Secrets Kept
by Fanficjunkie93
Summary: Jackson was willing to lose his friendships if it meant he could save the hospital, but he never thought that he'd have to go it alone.
1. Chapter 1

This story takes place in season 9 when Jackson unwillingly gets the position of chairmen. Everything else is completely AU. Also I own nothing but the changed story line . I'll try to update as frequently as I can . Hope you enjoy!

Jackson stood in front of his mother shocked. He had no clue what he was supposed to say to her or to the rest of the people in the room. For her to just drop this on him like that was... was... he couldn't even think of a strong enough word for how he felt right now.

He knew what everyone was gonna think, and they were right. This was only happening because his mother didn't know how to keep her nose out of his business.

"You want me to what?" Jackson asked his mother through clenched teeth.

"You heard me. It's about time that you started taking point in this company. Your family's company."

"This is exactly why I moved away. I didn't want to be a part of anything that had to do with the Harper-Avery foundation." He says, the frustration practically leaking out of him.

On the other side of the room another conversation was going on.

"Of course this would happen. We put in all the money we have and he's the one that gets the final say in everything. He basically owns the freaking hospital! How does that even happen?!" Arizona says

"He's an Avery that's how" says Cali matter a fact.

"Alright calm down everyone we'll figure out a way to fix this." Derek says

"How? She's the only reason why we still have this hospital. She's basically paying for over half of it, and she chose Jackson to run it. Why? I have no clue, but it's not like we can say no." Meredith says to them with Derek nodding in agreement.

"She's right guys. Yes we put a lot of money into saving this hospital, but we still need the Harper Avery foundation to keep it open. Without her we have nothing. So if she wants to put her son in charge then that's what's going to happen. He'll follow our lead. He doesn't have the leadership qualities to do it on his own." Derek states

"I don't have a choice do I." Jackson says dejectedly

"Oh you have a choice. You just won't like what the other choice will lead to. I highly doubt you'll want to be responsible for the hospital shutting down."

"God, your unbelievable. Why would you even want me running the hospital when I don't even think I can do it?"

"Because I have faith in you. You just need a little push." She said smiling proudly

"Isn't that why dad left? Grandpa pushed him to do things he wasn't ready for. He was under too much pressure and he left us." He says causing his mother to look away. He knew he should probably feel guilty about bringing his father into this but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. He wanted to perform surgeries not dictate who would do them . He would not turn into his father ,he had way to much to fight for .

"Well that won't be you. You will thrive. It might take awhile, but I believe in you" Catherine reminded her son.

Jackson gave up, he knew that he didn't have much of a choice anyway. He turned around when the group started to approach. He could see the look in every single one of their eyes and he had to look away. He realized that this was something that might never work, but he knew that he had to pull himself together, because he wouldn't be getting any help from them ,and as much as he hated this, the patients mattered more.

"Alright this little gathering is over. We can all go home now. Congratulations everyone." Catherine said with a smile as she kissed her sons cheek and walked away with Richard right on her heel.

Jackson grimaced. Knowing that kiss to the cheek didn't help him at all. He hears Cristina make a noise which just confirms what he was thinking.

Just as he was about to say something to them they walk away from him.

"Just perfect" he says following them out and to his car.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the next morning and their first board meeting and Jackson knew it wouldn't go well. His mom called him when he got home that night and talked to him about making a change in leadership. How getting a new chief of surgery would be better for the hospital. Something about out with the old and in with the new. He dismissed the idea immediately.

She was driving him crazy and he really wasn't ready to handle all the pressure he knew would come with the job, he had so much bigger things on his mind. He planned on bringing what he discussed with his mother up to Owen just to give him a heads up.

He understood that he was in charge, but he hadn't realized that it would literally all be on him. Every single problem was brought up to him. Weren't there other people that handled those sorts of things? You couldn't run a hospital on the back of one person.

And then there was Owen, who decided that he didn't need to work at the hospital anymore.

"I'll make it easier on you. I quit." Said hunt after Jackson explained to him what the board suggested.

'Damnit'. Jackson thought as he looked over and saw everyone watching him or in Derek's case, glaring him down. He decided to back off and walked into the conference room to prepare for the meeting.

He was in the conference room for 2 minutes letting his mind wander back to April and their baby when everyone showed up, and he decided to get started.

"So-" Jackson began to say until Cristina interrupted him.

"Wait, where's Owen?" She asked.

"Well, he..." Jackson started only to be cut off.

"He quit" Derek said interrupting whatever Jackson was about to say.

"He what!?" Cristina yelled out. Shock apparent on her face as well as the others.

"He quit" Jackson repeated annoyed that he didn't have the chance to explain the situation.

"Great. Your in charge for barely a day and your already destroying the hospital!" Cristina exclaimed.

"Look, I didn't fire him or suggest he leave. He didn't let me finish explaining to him-"

"Yea, because you already told him that the board was firing him." Derek butted in again.

"I was just trying to-" Jackson started again but was once again interrupted. This was getting really old really fast.

"Yea, we know what you were trying to do. What? You think that since your a chairman that you can do whatever the hell you want." Said Cali.

"No I don't, and if you would let me finish any of my sentences-" Jackson started only to get interrupted again.

"I get that your mom is one of the board members, but that doesn't mean you can make decisions like this without consulting us first. Were all apart of this board" Said Meredith which got them all started again.

He put his elbows on the table and leaned his head in his palms. He opened his mouth to respond when his phone rung. He looked down and saw that it was April, so getting up in the middle of the one sided discussion he walked out of the room. He knew that it would only cause more problems, but he really couldn't care less.

"Hey baby, what's wrong?" He asked her after he found an empty on call room.

"I was just checking up on you. I know this is your first day in the big seat, how's it going?"

April was a blessing. He'd been with her since the whole airplane crash happened. She had planned on leaving but when she realized that she was late she told Jackson. He was right by her side when she got tested and found out that she was pregnant. They were gonna have a baby. April wasn't the type to stay off her feet for too long, but she really wanted to be careful for her first pregnancy. They decided to move in together and they got married a few months after that. April still didn't have her old job at the hospital, but she planned on getting back out there a few months after their child was born and she passed her boards of course.

She was 7 months pregnant at the moment, but because of her size she hadn't really started showing until a little over 5 months. None of their family knew that they were having a baby or that they were married. April's family; being really religious, were critical and overbearing and his mother, well she wasn't that great either. She meant well but came off really strong. So they decided to keep everything to themselves. Maybe with time they'd gradually let the people they trusted in.

He planned on getting April rehired back at the hospital, but he knew it might be a little hard with all the board members hating his guts and barely being able to tolerate April. Not to mention she was an Avery too now. It didn't matter though, cause he was gonna do all he could to get her reinstated.

"Honestly not that great. They hate me, and usually I'm not really one to care so much about what others think of me, but for some reason I kinda wanted them to like me. Or at least tolerate me." He sighed.

"Don't worry babe, this is only the first day that you've been in charge. It was a big hit to them, they just need a few days to ease into things, It'll get easier. Hey, I'm on my way to the store to get some things for the kitchen, is there anything you need?"

"No, nothing but you." Jackson said sounding a little depressed.

April laughed "You can have all you want of me when you get home."

Jackson smiled his mood already improving. "Can't wait. Thanks for the call it really helped." he told her, glad that he had her in his corner.

"No problem honey. Call me if you ever need to talk or if the pressure is getting to be too much." she said thoughtfully.

"I will. I love you baby." Jackson said.

"I love you too honey." April said back and they hang up.

Jackson took a deep breath and walked back into the conference room.

"About time you came back." Cristina said.

"Look we'll discuss this later tonight. You can all get back to work." He finished and before they could argue anymore he walked out the room.

It was the middle of the afternoon when he heard the doctors fighting over who had which operating room. He was exhausted and he didn't really feel like telling trained professionals what to do, but clearly they wouldn't be able to figure it out on their own.

"I have this O.R." one doctor argued.

"No I have O.R. 2" the other one argued back.

"Can you guys please shut up my patient is trying to die in silence!" Cristina yelled.

The arguing continued until Arizona stepped in. "All of you shut up, okay here's what your gonna do...uh just give me one sec" she said and passed right by Jackson clearly not having a solution to the problem. Jackson rolled his eyes and took charge.

"Grey, go back to your patient he can take as long as he needs we will wait, Yang your in O.R. 2-" Kerev interrupted him.

"What? No!" Kerev said trying to move his patient into the room.

"Heart and lungs trump kidney, take the patient back to holding and the next O.R. that's available is yours." Jackson told him.

"You can't-" Kerev said

"That is it! Jackson said sternly, tired of being talked back to and not taken seriously.

Everyone stood there not sure what to do. "Well you heard the man he's the boss now move" Bailey said and everyone moved to follow Jackson's orders.

By the time the day was over Jackson was exhausted, but he knew that he had to go to that damn board meeting.

Everyone met up and they signed the necessary papers for the new board of directors. They were about to leave when Jackson stopped them.

"Actually I'd like to share a list of a few things that I think are our top priority." He told them hoping they would cooperate with him.

"You mean that the foundation thinks." Cali said

"No, I don't actually mean the foundation or my mom or those stupid protocols" he said throwing the book away "I mean me" he repeated looking at them and expecting them to blow him off.

"Well let's just listen" Meredith told them and they all sat down.

"One, I move that we reinstate Owen hunt as chief of surgery effective immediately. Dr hunt had agreed to this-

"There were some conditions" Derek interrupted.

"Which I was getting to. 2 we will be reopening the ER. We will be a level 1 trauma center again. From now on the foundation will follow our lead. We will tell them our decisions as we make them." He finished.

"That sounds good" said Arizona.

"I've got one more thing." Jackson told them

"Maybe you shouldn't push it" Meredith said.

"We are building a new hospital and that was your vision not mine. My priority is to make sure your vision comes true, and while it is important that we become a leading center for research and innovation we have to remember something. We are now officially a hospital run by doctors, that should mean something. It is our responsibility to be the best doctors we can possibly be, so that those who come after us can strive to be their best. So, with that in mind I move to rename the hospital."

"Again?"asked Yang.

"Why would we do that?" Meredith asked.

"To what?" Arizona questioned.

"Uh let me guess the Harper Avery Hospital" said Cali.

"No. I propose that we give this hospital a name that can honor the very reason we've come together and been able to do this. A name that exemplifies the spirit of this hospital but also the dept of our dedication."

Jackson picked up a notepad and turned it around showing them the name he came up with (Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital) "All in favor?" He asked and everyone agreed looking touched.

By the time the meeting was over he was tired, but feeling really good about everything he got accomplished.

He got home and opened the door to find the house dark. He headed straight to his room, took off his clothes and got into bed next to his wife. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lay his hand on her belly, instantly falling asleep.

~Hey guys, so there goes ch 2. I would love to hear what you think, and as always, thanks for the reviews and favs they keep me going. I'll be uploading the third chapter next week the latest. I hope you enjoyed this one . : )


	3. Chapter 3

He woke up the next morning to his wife snuggled up on him. He placed a kiss on her lips causing her to wake up.

"Good morning sweetie" Jackson said to April smiling at her.

"Morning baby" April whispered back kissing him on the lips then slowly pulling back. "Are you not working this morning?"

"What do you mean?" He asked her, sleep still in his eyes.

"Well it's 8am and your usually gone by-"

"Oh crap!" Jackson said jumping out of the bed "I overslept baby. As if they didn't already think I was incapable of doing this job in the first place." He said making his way into the bathroom.

Once he's dressed and ready he walks over to April. "What time is the appointment today?" he asks her.

"It's at 5, but don't worry about picking me up I'll get there on my own, and if you can make it I'll see you there." She said.

"There's no if. I'm going to make it to this appointment. I haven't missed one before and I won't start now." He said putting his hands on both sides of her face and caressing her left cheek. "I won't let being in charge of the hospital keep me away from my family. It's just the two of us; well three of us now" Jackson corrected rubbing April's belly "and I don't plan on letting you do any of this alone."

April stared at Jackson. "I love you so much" April said to him looking into his beautiful blue-green eyes. "I'll see you at the hospital." Said April.

"I love you to baby. Both of you" he said, kissing April's belly then kissing her.

"Your going to be later than you already are" April told him when she finally breaks away from his lips.

"Yea, I am" he said still placing kisses on her lips "are you sure you're okay to drive there on your own?" Jackson asked her caressing her face again, a gesture he enjoyed doing.

"Yes, I'm going to be fine sweetie" she said giving him one last peck on the lips. "Now get going!"

"Alright Alright I'm going" Jackson said smiling at her. "See you later" he told her as he leaves the house.

Jackson should have been at the hospital by at least 7:30. He ended up getting there by 8:45. This would only give them more ammunition against him. He didn't know if the meeting that they had last night would do anything to ease them into him and he understood, really he did.

He basically stole the hospital right from under them. He didn't have to fight to get this hospital, it was handed to him on a silver platter. Granted he didn't want it, but he doubted they would care about that.

He knew he was going to have to tread carefully. Which kind of sucked now, because he was late for their board meeting, that he was supposed to be leading. He'd just been so tired lately what with all the late nights dealing with his crazy mom and April.

April's pregnancy hadn't been easy for either one of them. There were lots of complications throughout the pregnancy. He had to keep everything together for April. Which meant that he didn't really have anyone to let out his frustrations to. He just hoped everything went perfectly with their appointment.

Jackson opened the door and walked into the hospital. He made his way into the conference room and saw it empty.

Jackson let out a sigh and sat down. "God. What a great way to start the day."

He got up and headed to the board to see the surgeries listed for the day. "Where were you this morning?" He heard Owen ask him.

"I kind of overslept." Jackson said.

"Wow second day on the job and your already slacking." He said a little condescendingly.

Jackson just ignored him 'today was gonna be a good day.' Jackson thought to himself trying to ignore everyone staring at him.

The rest of the day went terribly. It was like everyone was against him. He should have known that one good night wouldn't stop them from treating him like an outsider. He was exhausted and had a migraine that wouldn't go away.

They scheduled another board meeting later in the afternoon, that he was going to have to leave early from if he planned on making it to April's appointment on time. He knew it was going to set them off again, but right now he could care less.

"Heard you overslept. Is this new position too much for you?" Derek immediately started in on him.

"Of course it's too much for him. He can't handle all this, he doesn't have the right mindset." Cali continued.

"His mommy could care less who she let's run this place as long as their an Avery." Yang mocked.

Jackson sat there trying to stay professional as everyone began jumping at the chance to rip into him. He jumped a little when he heard his phone ring. 'Crap' he said in his head figuring it was already time for the appointment and that he was late.

He got up and left the room to take the call not bothering to excuse himself.

"Hey April, I'm sorry I didn't see the time I'm on my way right-"

"This is Seattle Pres Hospital. We're calling for Jackson Avery, is this him?"

Jackson's heart instantly stopped. He could already feel that something was wrong. April wasn't due for another 2 months. So even if they we're calling about her going into labor it wasn't time yet. He pulled himself together and answered.

"Yes, yes this is Jackson Avery." He said bracing himself for whatever they were going to tell him.

"Mr Avery your wife April was admitted into the hospital after a bad car accident. You need to get here as soon as you can." The nurse on the other end of the phone told him.

"Is she- is she okay? Is she stable? What about the baby, how is she?" He asked her and there were tears already forming in his eyes.

"No she's not stable yet, but as soon as she is were going to have to take her into surgery and take the baby out if there's any chance of saving them." A cold fear swept over him.

Jackson took a deep shuttering breath "Okay, I'm on my way" he said and hung up. He walked back to the room, reaching towards the table to grab his stuff and everyone was back to yelling at him and he really couldn't take any of it right now.

Jackson slammed his hand on the table taking everyone by shock. They never actually saw Jackson angry like that before.

"Would you shut up already! Damnit. I get it okay. You don't want me in charge, well I didn't ask for this job either. You think I want to go through paperwork instead of assisting in a surgeries? You think I want to run board meetings instead of working on patients? Why do you think I moved away from my family in the first place. I didn't want anything to do with them or their reputation. I had a spot set for me at MassGen, but I chose to go somewhere that my family wasn't already known for. They didn't even believe that I could make it as a doctor, thought I was just another pretty face. They didn't push me like they did my sisters, so I did it all alone. Every single thing. I made it here on my own, the only people who did believe in me have either been fired from this hospital or died in this hospital. Sloan was one of the first people to think I could be really good at something. That's one of the only reasons that I chose to keep the job, cause if I didn't my mom wouldn't have kept this hospital open. I was only trying to help you guys and the people at this hospital. So just get off my back."

He started that conversation angry but ended up just more tired than before. He ran his hands over his face and took a breath "Look I have a family emergency. I have to go." he said, tears reappeared in his eyes, but he tried to hide them.

Everyone just stared at Jackson not sure what to say to him. They never knew that was the reason he took the job. Looking at him now, they could tell there was something more going on though.

"Avery, you okay?" Derek asked him.

Jackson let out a little laugh "No, no I'm not okay. I'm sorry that I have to leave so early when I came in so late this morning, but it's an emergency. I'm taking a leave of absence and I'm gonna leave Derek in charge of picking whoever he thinks can lead until I get back. I don't know how long I'll be out though." He said with a tear escaping out of the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it away hoping no one would say anything.

"Avery what's going on?" Hunt asked him this time. This was clearly something serious.

"It's personal okay" he said gruffly.

"You can tell us what it is" said Arizona.

"No, I can't. You guys have made it really clear that you don't like me. So I'd rather not share personal information with any of you." Jackson reminded them and that just about shuts them up.

"If you need anything call me," He takes a pause "but please don't need anything." He said to them with a desperate look in his eyes. He grabbed the rest of his stuff and rushed out the room leaving silence behind.

~So there's chapter 3, I hope you enjoyed. I haven't thought out the whole story yet so if you guys have any suggestions or comments about anything please let me know. : )


	4. Chapter 4

~Hey everyone. I'm back with another update! First I'd like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and Favorited this story. I really do take into account what my readers want, and as long as I haven't written a chapter yet I'm totally up for suggestions. This chapter is way longer than my previous ones. Half of the chapter is a flashback to when Jackson and April first get together and how they find out about their bundle of joy! I wasn't sure if I should post any flashbacks, but one of you suggested it and I was like why not? So here it is and I hope you enjoy it. As always comments are appreciated. :)

Everyone in the boardroom was quiet. No one knew what to say.

"Should we go after him, see what's wrong?" Arizona asked as she allowed her concerns to be shown.

Derek shook his head, "No. He was right, we've been nothing but hostile towards him. He won't tell us what's going on. Damn, I had no idea he didn't want the job." Derek said and everyone nodded in agreement.

Arizona pulled out her phone typing in a number.

"Who are you calling?" Cali asked curiously, it had to be something pertaining this situation what with the seriousness of what was going on.

"Alex" Arizona simply stated.

Meredith looked confused along with everyone else in the room. "Why?" She asked, what did Alex have to do with anything that was going on here.

"He and Avery have gotten a little closer. Not by much, but he's one of the only people in this hospital who talks to Avery" She told them starting to feel guilty already and by the looks on their faces, she could tell the rest of the room's occupants felt the same way too.

"Hey Alex, can you come to the boardroom, please? There's something I need to talk to you about."

A few minutes later Alex came striding inside. "Yea, what's up? Are you guys having another meeting without Avery?" He asked sounding a little annoyed. When Jackson first started complaining about everyone giving him a hard time he told him to suck it up. It wasn't until he saw first hand how deliberately disrespectful they were being that he finally understood what he meant. Avery was running himself ragged around the hospital fixing problems that clearly shouldn't need his help. It got to the point that Alex was tempted to say something, and the only reason he hadn't was that Avery wouldn't let him. He was sick of it and screw it if Jackson got pissed, he was fixing this tonight.

"No, we just, I just thought that maybe you should call him or something. He was here a while ago, but he said he had a family emergency and left. He looked really upset" Arizona explained to him though she conveniently left out some details.

Alex gave Arizona a confused look. "Jackson doesn't really talk to his family that much anymore. Well, he used to talk to his mom, but not so much now after she forced him to take this job. He mentioned to me once that he had sisters, but I don't think they talk either. But honestly were not that close so he doesn't tell me all of his deepest darkest secrets, we just talk once in a while. Why would I need to call him?"

Everyone was quiet for a little while as they absorbed everything that Alex was saying. They didn't even know he had other family and now that they thought about it they never asked, even before the plane crash when they were semi-close.

"He was crying," Cristina said softly, saying what everyone else couldn't. It was uncomfortable for them to talk about.

Alex looked a little surprised. He'd never once seen Avery cry.

"He tried to hide it, but we saw and were clearly not the people he wants to confide in. Who else is he close to?" Meredith asked.

"I'll call Ben. We'll stop by his place and see what's going on" Alex said.

"Ben? Bailey's Ben?" Cali asked confused.

"Yea. Their friends." Alex threw out.

"Is Bailey friends with Avery too?" Meredith asked clearly not knowing what else to expect.

"Yes, she is. Like I said before, no one really talks to him anymore. Ever since all this crap started no one's been on his side. You guys are the veterans here, people follow your lead. Monkey see monkey do and all that." He waved his hand "I think Ben convinced Bailey to give him a shot although it took some convincing on both ends. He's a little closed off now, doesn't really trust anyone anymore. I can't blame him though, all the people that were supposed to be his friends turned on him. He trusted you guys and you let him down." Alex said he couldn't believe him of all people were lecturing his "friends" on how to _be_ a friend.

"I would expect this from Cristina, but not from the rest of you, and if I'm being honest you're all acting like a bunch of five-year-olds that got their favorite toy taken away from them. This is a freaking hospital for christ sakes, not a giant plaything for you to stake claim to. I promised Jackson that I would let him handle you guys, but clearly, someone else needed to get your heads on straight." Alex said angrily. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so passionately about something other than Peds, but there was something about what Avery was being put through that just rubbed him wrong.

"You guys changed him" he stated quietly. "He's not the same person as he was before like I said earlier he's less open to people. I mean his best friend got fired and he only stayed here because of the plane crash. He wanted to wait until Sloan got better, but then he died and he didn't want to let Sloan down. He figured Mark taught him all of his skills and he should try to pick up where Sloan left off. Sloan had patients here that he thought he would be better suited to treating because Sloan taught him how. They trusted Mark and they trust him. Then he had no choice but to stay after his mom forced him to take charge." Alex told them hoping that they now understood the position that Avery was put in. Alex put his phone away having contacted Ben.

"I'm gonna go meet up with Ben. If Jackson wants to let you guys know whatever's going on with him then I'll tell you, other than that stay out of his business." Alex warned them and walked out the door.

"Were terrible people." Said Meredith.

"Yea we are." Cristina agreed "especially if Karev felt the need to lecture us."

"What do we do now?" Derek questioned surprisingly not having a plan.

"We go home. If he wants us to know what's going on then he'll tell us." Owen tells them and they all reluctantly head home.

…

"So what's going on?" Ben asked Alex when he saw him coming through the doors of the hospital. Ben was just getting off of work when he got the text from Alex telling him that they needed to talk.

"It's Jackson. He had some sort of family emergency and had to rush out of his meeting. The others said it looked pretty serious, like tears serious." Alex said shifting around as he said it. He was uncomfortable talking about Avery crying. "I called him a few times but he hasn't answered any of them. I think we should check his house, do you know where he lives?"

"No not a clue. He never told anyone where he moved to." Ben said a little worried.

"Great" Alex said staring the phone down like that would make it ring. And lo and behold the phone started ringing. "It's him," he said to Ben.

"Well hurry up and answer it before he hangs up," Ben told him.

He answered and put it on speaker. They waited for Jackson to say something, but all they got was silence. "Avery?...Avery?... Jackson, what's going on? Come on talk to us Jackson." Alex pleaded with him.

"Where are you? "Ben asked him. It took a couple of seconds but he eventually answered.

"I'm at Seattle Press Hospital." He said, his voice rough.

"What? Why? Jackson, what's going on? What are you doing there?" Alex asked him.

"Can you guys meet me here? I need to tell you some things." Jackson told them and they could tell that he was trying not to cry.

"Were already on our way," Ben said as they headed to the car.

"Thanks" Jackson muttered and hung up.

...

As Jackson drove to the hospital his mind raced with all the different scenarios that would await him. He couldn't lose April and their baby. They survived too much for it to end like this. He could still clearly remember it as if it were yesterday when he and April first got together.

 _(FLASHBACK)_

 _It was the night after their boards. Everyone got the message that they were dying to receive, they passed, they were board certified now. As they cheered and congratulated one another Jackson noticed one person who lacked enthusiasm._

 _"April, aren't you excited?" he asked not understanding her quietness._

 _"I didn't pass," she said quietly and everyone suddenly paused._

 _Jackson looked just as devastated as she did. He knew how terrible she probably felt and he knew he would need to find a way to help her get through it. The other three didn't offer any kind of real help to the situation and April ended up walking away. Jackson decided to just give her a little space, she needed to figure some things out on her own first, but he wouldn't let her seclude herself for long._

 _April walked away from the group of excited Doctors and back to her apartment. She was sad, but she had offers that if she had any luck would still be on the table for her. Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it and saw a text from Jackson. 'I know you're bummed about the boards, and I know that you probably don't want to come, but Grey is throwing a party at her place and I figured It would be better than you staying home alone.' She smiled, of course, he would be thinking of her, that's just the type of person he was. She got herself together and went to the party. It was in full swing when she arrived and she found Jackson sitting on the side smirking at Kristina and her antics._

 _Jackson turned his head and spotted April in the room. He smiled at her and gestured for her to come over, pouring her a cup of whatever alcoholic beverage was around knowing that the last thing that April would care about was what she was drinking. She walked over and thanked Jackson for the drink taking a tentative sip. Her face scrunched up at the taste, but she forced herself to take another and then another until she had downed the whole thing. Jackson looked at her in surprised worry, but wisely chose not to say anything. She giggled at him and then pulled him up to dance. Clearly the alcohol was already hitting her. As the night carried on Jackson began to regret his decision of telling April about the party. She was drunk, like completely drunk. He watched her carefully as she danced on the couch, half filled cup swishing in her hand. Occasionally she would glance at her phone and then shed just take another gulp of her drink. It was to the point that Jackson could no longer stand by and watch her deteriorate in front of him while the others seemed to find it funny._

 _"Come on April, let's get you home," he said as he picked her up. He snagged a bottle of water from the cooler and walked out the house._

 _"But I wanna stay at the party," she complained._

 _"I know, but it's time that I got you home, besides you're gonna have one hell of a headache tomorrow morning. Trust me, you'll thank me for stopping you from drinking anything other than water right now." He told her as he sat her down in his car and buckled her seatbelt. He gave her the water bottle and she sipped slowly from it as he made his way to the driver's side. They'd worry about getting her car in the morning. He drove slowly not wanting to jostle April too much. It took them some time, but he finally reached her apartment and got her inside. He placed her on her bed and was about to leave, but thought better of it. She'd had a lot to drink and he wasn't completely sure that she would be coherent enough to get out of bed and into the bathroom if anything decided to come back up. He'd be devastated if something happened to her, so he pulled the beanbag over to him (only April would have a beanbag in her room) and sat vigil by her bedside._

 _Morning came slowly and Jackson rubbed his red-rimmed eyes. He'd stayed up most the night watching April for signs of alcohol poisoning, or if she needed to throw up or anything like that. Other than a few tosses and turns April was fine. At least until she woke up that morning._

 _April groaned as she turned over "oh no" she mumbled as she rushed to the bathroom nearly tripping over Jackson in her haste to make it to the bathroom in time._

 _Jackson walked into her kitchen grabbing a bottle of water and some painkillers from her cabinet and waited for her to come into the kitchen. After 15 minutes April came slumping into the kitchen groaning. Jackson held out his hand and April grabbed the water and pills, downing them quickly as if the speed would help her any. she mumbled a thank you and sat in the chair across from Jackson._

 _"What are you doing here Jackson?" April wondered. She couldn't really remember much of what happened last night, and seeing Jackson in her apartment was a little shocking._

 _"Well, I brought you home last night. You were pretty out of it and I thought I'd get you out of there before anything went down. What happened out there? I sure didn't tell you to come to the party just so you could get blackout drunk." Jackson questioned. He really wanted to know, because last night was not like April at all._

 _"Everyone rescinded their offers. I failed the board and now all the hospitals don't want me. My last hope was Seattle Grace, but they wouldn't even take me. I have nothing. I worked all my life to get to this point and it was all for nothing. What am I going to do now? I can't go back home, my parents are expecting a Doctor, not someone who failed." April cried._

 _Jackson scooted his chair over to her and touched her hand. "So you'll take the test again and this time you'll pass it with flying colors. Those hospitals are crazy not to want someone as special and talented as you. You are gonna make one hell of a Trauma Doctor when you pass and then they'll all be begging to have you at their hospitals, just you wait and see." he said._

 _April looked at Jackson and she could tell that he meant everything that he said. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. She stared into his eyes and leaned over and kissed him. Jackson kissed her back but pulled away. He knew how she felt after they slept together before their boards, he didn't agree with it but that didn't mean that he didn't respect what she believed in. "April, is this really what you want? I know how you feel about this," he questioned her. He wouldn't let her do something she wasn't 100 percent comfortable with._

 _That just made her all the more ready to do this. It was so relieving having someone think about you for a chance. "I know what I said to you at the boards, and I'm sorry that I said it. While I still do believe in marriage before sex, it's kind of pointless now don't you think. And I really want to do this, so please don't talk me out of it." April moved her lips back to his. They kissed passionately all the way into the bedroom closing the door on their way in._

 _"That was amazing!" Jackson said as they both lay there on the bed. He turned towards her and gave her a smile._

 _"Yea, it really was" she smiled back at him. They had almost been desperate in their desire to be together, it was the best experience that she'd ever had, way better than the first time. Though she only had those two experiences to choose from, she didn't think it could get any better than that._

 _"Are you okay? I didn't hurt you or anything did I?" Jackson asked her_

 _She smiled at his caring nature. This was one of the things she always feared about being with someone. She always figured that after they had sex that that would be it, they'd probably stay for awhile, maybe try some small talk for awhile, but then they'd be on their way. But Jackson, he wasn't like that. He was asking if she was okay afterward because he really cared. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, and it made her all the more happy knowing that at least she lost her virginity to someone who truly cared for her._

 _"I'm more than okay," she said as she rolled over on top of him. They spent the rest of the day fooling around and forgetting about the rest of the world for awhile._

 _Jackson looked at the time and realized they'd been in bed nearly the whole day. He completely forgot about the rest of the world, and if he didn't leaves now he would be late for the dinner that Webber was having for them. "Oh crap, April I have to go." he jumped out of bed. "I completely forgot about the diner."_

 _April looked a little sad. "It's fine I understand. Have fun," she told him._

 _He laughs "I doubt that it'll be fun, I can still picture my mom and Webber having sex" he shuddered at the thought._

 _April giggled "yea, I forgot about that."_

 _"I wish I could forget about it. There are just some things that kids shouldn't know about their parents." He pulled on the rest of his clothes and leaned over April. "I'll see you when I get back," he told her kissing her on the lips._

 _April looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry was that too much too soon?" he wondered as he backed away giving April some space._

 _April shook her head. "No, just unexpected," she admitted_

 _Jackson looked at her in confusion than kissed her again. "I like you April, I have for awhile and I would like to be in a relationship with you, but I'm okay with waiting until your comfortable with all of this. I want you to know that this isn't just some one night stand for me, I care about you and I kinda hope that you like me too." He said to her sincerely. April kissed him back._

 _"Yes, I would love to." she smiled as his smile widened. 'Maybe everything wasn't lost today' she thought as she watched her best friend turned boyfriend? walk out the door._

 _..._

 _It was hours later that Jackson came home looking white as a ghost and the nightmare began. It only got worse after that night, from finding out that the plane carrying the doctors from Seattle grace had crashed to the tragic rescue that followed, to finding out about the death of a girl who Jackson cared for and then the depressing demise of a person that Jackson was starting to love like a brother. Jackson really took the death of Sloan hard. He was everything to Jackson, a mentor, a friend, the closest thing Jackson had to family anymore. He was there for him when Jackson really needed him and most importantly he didn't want anything from him but his friendship and success. The months that followed the plane crash was hard on everybody. Jackson had decided to take the now open spot as Head of Plastic Surgery, he knew that was something Mark would have wanted. He was still hoping to keep the Plastics Posse alive._

 _April was still indecisive on whether or not she should leave, her only real reason for staying was Jackson and while she loved him, she knew that she shouldn't make such big decisions like that based off of a guy. Although Jackson Avery wasn't just any guy, and she was really beginning to fall for him and fall hard. They had gotten really close after the loss of Lexie and Mark and Jackson really wanted things to work for them. Not only because of how he felt about her but because of Mark. He was rooting for them and he never got to tell Lexie how he felt about her. He didn't want Jackson to miss out on love because he was too scared. So she decided to take a few more weeks before they made any life changing decisions, but it seemed like life had other plans for them._

 _..._

 _April woke up from her bed to the feeling of nausea, she jumped out of the bed and ran into her bathroom. Five minutes later she came out groaning and rubbing her upset stomach. That was how she spent the day, laying in bed and emptying her stomach. How could she have caught a bug? She hadn't been anywhere near the hospital in weeks and she hadn't eaten anything that would have given her a stomach virus. She couldn't figure out for the life of her what had happened. Jackson called her that night, but she told him not to come over, that she had a bad bug. He tried to convince her to let him bring her something to eat, maybe some soup, but she would have none of it._

 _It wasn't until the following day that April was in the bathroom once again emptying her stomach that she realized something. She was looking under her cabinet for a roll of paper when she noticed a box sitting in the corner. It was fresh, never touched, but that couldn't be possible her period would have came in... she rushed out the room and opened her phone up to her calendar. Omg. This couldn't be right, there was no way that this was right. If this was correct then that meant her period was more than a month late. "oh no no no no no. This can't be happening." she said as she flopped down on the bed. How could she have been so careless. How could she forget about her period. She had never been late in her entire life, but she missed a whole month without even realizing it? It had to be because of everything that happened since the night of the boards. Her eyes filled with tears that slowly made their way down her cheeks. If she was pregnant what was she going to do. She wouldn't get an abortion, and there was no way that she was giving her baby up. But what if Jackson didn't want a kid. What if he thought she was trying to trap him to get money off of him. No, he wouldn't think that of her they loved each other and she had faith in him. Her doorbell rung bringing her out of her thoughts. She hopped up from the bed and answered the door completely surprised at who was there. She honestly shouldn't have been, because there really wasn't anyone else that it would be, no one but Jackson visited her, but that didn't mean she wasn't shocked. I mean talk about timing._

 _"Hey April" Jackson said without really looking at her, "I know you didn't want me to come by, but that was yesterday and I just figured that some good homemade soup would help your stomach..." he trailed off as he saw the tears rolling down her face. He placed the bowls of soup on the counter and walked closer to her. "April, babe whats wrong?" he questioned instantly worried as he wrapped his strong arms around her petite body._

 _"I'm so sorry Jackson, I don't want you to think that I did this on purpose and I by no means am giving it up so if you no longer want to be with me I completely understand. I mean you have your whole life ahead of you and I would hate to be the reason that you have to rethink all the plans you've had for yourself and-"_

 _"Whoa whoa whoa, April slow down." Jackson cut her off as he walked her over to the couch and sat her down. He kneeled in front of her as he rubbed her shoulders. "Take a deep breath April" April followed his instructions. "Okay, now tell me what's going on?" He questioned_

 _She looked at him teary-eyed. "I think I'm pregnant"_

 _This time it was Jackson that was looking at her in shock. He didn't know what to say. "You're Pregnant?" He stupidly repeated and April merely nodded her head. "Well, that's definitely not what I expected to hear from you," he said still in a state of shock. "Are you sure?" he asked carefully, not wanting to sound as if he was angry._

 _"I'm late, I've never been late my entire life. Although I would feel more comfortable getting tested by a doctor," she told him softly._

 _"Wow, um okay," he said standing up. "You get ready and we'll head on over to SGMW-"_

 _"I'm not going to that hospital, I don't want any of the other doctors knowing. Its none of their business," she stated her face set in a scowl._

 _"Okay, let's see. The next best thing would be Seattle Press?" He questioned_

 _April nodded her head in agreement and stared at Jackson in wonder. "You're not upset?" She asked curiously._

 _"April, why would I be upset? This was a two-way street." He told her as he maneuvered her into a standing position and into her room so she could get ready. He walked over to the counter and picked up the forgotten soup placing it in the fridge for a later time. Jackson took a seat on the couch as he patiently waited for April to finish up. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared. This definitely wasn't where he saw himself at this point in time, but he wouldn't show his fear to April who was already stressed as it was._

 _April came out of the room dressed in jeans and a loose blouse, her purse hanging on her shoulder. "Okay, I'm ready," she said nervously._

 _Jackson nodded and held open the door for her. Thirty minutes later found them sitting in the waiting room nervously waiting to be checked up. Jackson grabbed Aprils shaking hand in his and gave her a small smile. "It's going to be okay, no matter what happens in there." He reassured her. She gave him a wobbly smile but didn't say anything back._

 _"April Kepner" She heard her name called by a nurse. Jackson let her hand go as she stood up and she looked over at him. "Don't you want to come?" She asked him though she was afraid of the answer. Jackson nodded his head pleasantly surprised and April could feel his relief at not having to sit on the outside in anticipation. He retook her hand as they made their way into the room._

 _April sat on the bed awaiting the results of the test as Jackson paced back and forth. He would switch from running his fingers through his hair, to over his face, then to walking back over to April and rubbing her hand. April would have thought it comical if she wasn't feeling just as nervous as him. Their hearts pounded loudly in their chest as the door opened and the doctor came in._

 _"So how are you two doing today?" She asked as she sat down in the chair beside April, file in hand._

 _"Were extremely nervous here Doc, so could you please just tell us what the test results are?" Jackson asked still finding a way to say it as politely as he could. April smiled, Jackson took the words right out of her mouth. While they appreciated the kindness of the Doctor all they really wanted was to know if they were having a baby or not._

 _"Okay," the doctor opened the file. "You're definitely pregnant, 4 weeks actually. Congratulations." She said._

 _Jackson looked over at April and saw his same fears reflected in her eyes. He walked over to her and took her hand. "April It's going to be okay. I'll go along with whatever you want to do, but I want you to know that I want this baby. We made this him/her together and nothing is going to keep me from protecting you and our baby from whoever or whatever it may be. It's you and me." He said as he rubbed his hand over her belly._

 _(END FLASHBACK)_

Jackson felt like a complete failure. He couldn't even keep the promise he made to April and his daughter. He just prayed that it wasn't too late to save them. He had no idea what he would do if they were taken from him. Jackson parked his car and rushed into the hospital to hear about his family.


	5. Chapter 5

~Hey, sorry for the late update, I've been very busy this past week. I want to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed this story I really appreciate all the support. To the newcomers feel free to leave a comment, I love to hear what you guys have to say. Any ideas you have I'll be sure to keep them in mind while I'm writing. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :) Please read authors note at the end.

...

"I'm here for April Kepner-Avery. I'm her husband." He said to the nurse at the front desk.

"I got him," a Doctor said coming into the room just as Jackson started speaking.

"Mr. Avery. Hi, my name is Natalie Freeman. Your wife is right through these doors." She gestured to the double doors straight ahead of them.

Jackson walked into the room and halted as he saw April laying there, tubes and blood everywhere. God the blood. There was so much blood.

"Um, what... what's...?" Jackson couldn't even speak, but luckily the doctor saw where he was going.

She looked at him sympathetically. "April suffered a fractured wrist, twisted ankle, some cracked ribs." She paused to see if he needed some time before she continued down the list of injuries. Jackson inwardly shivered at the thought that there was more.

He gave her a nod to let her know he was good and she continued. "We might have to remove her spleen as it was also badly damaged although we'll know more when we get inside the O.R. and get a better look at the damage she suffered internally." She paused again and Jackson wanted to scream at her to just finish it up, all the pausing did was delay the inevitable. Seeming to sense his frustration the Doctor continued on with her description. "She also has a very deep cut on her head that as of now we cannot tell how serious it is, though it is a cause for concern. She's just stabilized so you arrived right on time."

"How's the baby?" He asked he hoped that she was alright because he didn't know if he could take any more bad news.

"So far she seems okay, but this was a big strain on the pregnancy." She said making sure to let him know that nothing was certain. "Her doctor is on the way to the hospital but I doubt she'll make it before we go into surgery. Also, there are some questions I need to ask you." She told him and by the look on her face he knew that it wasn't good, but all Jackson could do was stare at April and her battered body.

He took a few steps towards her and placed his hand on the side of her face, tears falling from his eyes. "I'm so sorry baby. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you and our little girl." He held back a sob.

"Mr. Avery, I really need you to answer some questions for me so that we can take them into surgery." She said softly

"Um, yeah okay." He said trying to pull himself together.

"How far along is she?"

"32 weeks. We were supposed to have a checkup today." He informed her.

"Okay. This question is gonna be a little hard. Did you guys ever discuss what you would like done if it comes between saving her life or the baby?"

Jackson's back stiffens. He takes a seat beside April and puts his head in his hands silently sobbing. They'd discussed this, especially with the delicacy of the pregnancy. It was a touchy subject.

"She um...she wanted to save the baby over her. We didn't agree, so we tabled it. We never talked about it after that, but as much as it will kill me I know she would hate me forever if I choose her over our baby. She wouldn't be able to live with that decision. So please please do everything you can for the both of them, but if..." He paused, he hated this.

He took a steadying breath, "If it comes down to it I want you to save our baby." He said and his heart just about broke saying it.

Dr. Freeman walked over to him and rubbed his back. "I promise you, we'll do everything we can for your wife and your baby" she called over a couple of doctors and they wait for Jackson to say what he needs to say to April.

Jackson knew it was bad if they were taking the time to let him talk to her before they took her to the O. R. He looked at April and kissed her gently on the lips and then kissed her belly. "I'll see you both later. I love you. He said to them and then watched as they Wheeled them away.

A nurse showed him to the patient waiting area and he sat there numb, as tears cascaded down his face. It was a few hours later that he saw the Doctors and the looks on their faces. He let his head fall as he realized that the news wasn't good. After all, he was a doctor himself. He braced himself for the news he already knew was coming.

"Mr. Avery we did everything we could. While April did make it through surgery she also slipped into a coma. We're not sure how long she'll be in it, it could be days, weeks, months. The brain is very unpredictable. She's breathing on her own though, so that's a good sign. We did have to remove her spleen, it was too badly damaged." She told him gently.

"What..." Jackson cleared his throat. "What about our baby?" Jackson asked not really knowing how to react to the news about his wife.

"You have a beautiful baby girl. She's healthy even though she is premature. She weighs 4.5 lbs, she will need to stay in the NICU for awhile, but you can go in there and hold her if you'd like." She told him, hoping this news at least would ease some of his pain.

"Yeah, I'd love to." He said hoarsely and they walked over to the NICU. They put on the gown and walked over to his baby, taking her out and placing her in Jackson's arms.

Jackson immediately melted. Their daughter was just about the cutest thing he'd ever seen and he was not being biased. She looked more like him but she definitely had some of April's features, though eyes were an exact replica of Jackson's.

"You have a beautiful baby girl one of the cutest I've seen, and I've seen a lot. Have you decided on a name?" Dr. Freeman said smiling at him.

"Thank you." He said agreeing wholeheartedly. "We picked out the name Aryn Jordan Avery." He said with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

"I'd like to see April now," he said, gently placing his daughter in the crib. They walk over to the elevator to April's floor and into her room.

"We'll leave you alone. Whenever you want you can go visit Aryn. You might want to call someone to be with you though. You shouldn't be going through this alone." she told him. Things like this always saddened her.

When he was finally alone he let all of his tears and frustrations out. "April believes in you, so I hope you don't let her down. Please don't let me lose her. Don't let her miss out on her child, not after everything she's been through." He prayed. This was his first time praying and he hoped that April's God didn't them down.

He sat in the room for a good amount of time before he thought about what the doctor said, about being alone. He knew that he didn't have many friends at the moment, but he also knew of two people who he could trust and who he really needed. Jackson pulled out his phone to call Alex when he saw all the missed calls from him.

Taking a deep breath he hit the call button. Jackson heard Karev pick up but suddenly he didn't know what to say. He heard Karev and Ben both calling his name and asking if he was alright but he couldn't get a word out. And suddenly he was crying. God, he was nothing but tears today.

He calmed down enough to tell them where he was and that he needed them to come to the hospital, but then felt a little weird asking for help. He wasn't used to that, he always had to do things on his own, but he knew he wouldn't be able to handle this alone. It was too much. So he sat there waiting for them to come as he combed his fingers through April's hair.

A/N

~I was just told by a reviewer that baby Jackson was named after the wife of the actual character. I totally didn't even realize that Jesse's wife's name was Aryn! And it's spelled the exact same way, I'm sorry if this offends anyone. I love Chicago p.d. and that's where the name came from, but I decided to spell it another way, unintentionally spelling it the same way as his wife's. I didn't do it on purpose though, so if you guys would like a name change let me know. I'll go with the majority vote!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone, I'm back. I hate that it takes me so long to update for you guys, there's just always something going on. But I was finally able to finish this chapter for you, and I'm keeping the baby name, Aryn. Thanks again for all the encouraging reviews and please continue to comment I love hearing what you think. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always review, fav, and follow! :)

...

"So, what do you think happened? It has to be pretty serious because he didn't sound good." Karev said as he drove his car to the hospital.

"I know what you mean." Ben agreed. He didn't know what would be serious enough for Jackson to be at the hospital, well he was a doctor so he could guess a few things that could be the reason but he'd rather not.

"Well we're here," Karev stated tensely, they both walked into the hospital preparing themselves for whatever was to come.

"We're here to see Jackson Avery," Karev told the nurse at the desk when they reached the front.

"Jackson Avery... sorry, I don't see a Jackson Avery." The nurse told them as she looked through her computer.

"Well can you check again?" Karev asked a little annoyed.

The nurse checked once more but still couldn't find a Jackson Avery. "I'm sorry there's no one here by that name."

"Well, how about you just check the last name for us?" Ben asked politely.

The nurse smiled at Ben and checked again while Karev rolled his eyes.

"Oh yes, here we go Avery-" the nurse stated only to be interrupted by Karev.

"We know the name, just give us the room number," he said in agitation.

Ben glared at him causing Alex to grunt out a please at the end.

"Room 119," she told them, or more precisely, told Ben.

"Thank you," Ben told her. "I'm sorry about him he's just really worried about his friend," Ben said with a smile. The nurse nodded her understanding and they walked away.

Following the signs, they found their way to room 119 and right when they reached the door they saw Jackson coming out.

"Jackson hey, what's going on?" Ben asked him worried.

Jackson looked up at them and quickly wiped the remaining tears from his face. "Hey guys," Jackson said putting on a clearly fake smile.

"Avery... What happened? Why are you here? Who's in the room?" Alex asked when he realized that Jackson wasn't a patient.

"It's um, It's April," Jackson told them warily.

Alex blinked. "Kepner, Kepner is in there?" Alex asked, "is she alright?"

"No. No, she's not. She's in a coma and their not sure when she's gonna wake up." He explained.

"What happened?" Ben asked, he didn't know her like the others did, but that didn't mean he didn't care.

"She was in a car accident," Jackson told them reopening the door so they could go in and see her.

"Jesus." Both Alex and Ben say when they see April in the bed.

"Yea that's what I thought too." Jackson said as he walked over to April "there's uh, there's something else I need to show you guys" he said placing a kiss on April's cheek "I'll be back later" he whispered to her.

They walk out of the room and follow Jackson into an elevator.

"So did you and Kepner keep in touch?" Alex asked carefully, not wanting to say anything offensive. He saw the kiss, and while it might have been just a friendly kiss, the look in Jackson's eyes told a different story.

The elevator stopped and they walked out. They were so focused on Jackson's answer that they didn't realize where they were standing.

"Me and April... well, she never left. We've been together all this time."

"Together?" Ben questioned.

"Yeah, together," Jackson told them holding up his left hand with the wedding band on it.

"Oh wow. Didn't see that coming" Karev said and then finally noticing where they were at he looked around in confusion. "We might be on the wrong floor, Avery," Alex told him.

Jackson chuckled, "No, were not."

"What are we doing here then?" He questioned.

"There," he said pointing to a small bundle in the front "that's why we're here. She's our daughter. Mine and April's" Jackson told them getting emotional again.

"Jesus Avery, does anybody else know about this?" Ben questioned

"No, and I don't plan on telling anyone other than you two," Jackson said, making it perfectly clear where he stood on that matter.

"Arizona is the one who called me. They were worried when you left man." Karev told him.

"Yeah, I bet they were." He said sarcastically "I'm gonna see if I can stay here in the hospital for a couple of days at the least. I just don't want to leave them alone." He ran his hands through his hair. "I should've gone and picked her up like we planned to before instead of letting her drive. This is my fault." He said.

"No it's not" Ben put his hand on Jackson's back "this was just a freak accident, you couldn't have prevented this." He assured him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do without April." He told them, a slightly crazed look in his eyes. "I don't know if I can raise our daughter by myself. My mom doesn't know about any of this and I haven't talked to my sisters in forever. I never planned on telling them. Then there's April's family who basically disowned her for having sex before marriage and whatever else they think she's done." he sighs "I have to call them, but I'm not even sure if they'll care." Jackson explained, he was clearly sleep deprived if the dark circles under his eyes were anything to go by.

"It was just us three and I was fine with that, but now it's going to be just me and Aryn and I don't know if I'll be a good dad. It's not like I had one to learn from. My dad was an asshole and when he left it didn't really feel all that different than when he was there. I don't want my daughter to ever think of me like I do of him." Jackson continued, he would chastise himself for saying so much when he finally got some sleep.

"You're a good man Jackson and you'll be a great dad. Plus you'll have me and Alex to help you." Ben told him with a smile.

Jackson smiled at them "Thanks for being here for me. I didn't have anyone else I could call, no one that I trust right now with this information."

"You can always call us if you need something," Ben told him.

"Jackson, your kid is adorable. I mean she just might be the cutest baby I've ever seen and I work in the Peds department so I've seen my fair share."

"Yea, I'm gonna have to agree with Karev on this one. She's beautiful." Ben complimented.

"Thanks, she is gorgeous, but I'm completely biased." He laughed. "She has my eyes, the same exact color." He beamed, and they could hear how proud he was of that. "She has April's nose, and ears but she still looks more like me. I kinda wish she looked a little more like April you know?"

"Yeah, we know." Ben said "but April is gonna be okay. She just needs some time" Ben said convincing Jackson.

"Give me your keys and address and we'll pick up some stuff for you to stay the night so you won't have to leave them," Alex told Jackson.

Jackson hesitated "you don't have to do that-"

"Hey, this is what friends are for. Now don't go getting all emotional over this Avery."

Jackson laughed. You could always count on Karev to refrain from anything too personal. He handed Karev his keys and told him the address, giving him the password to his alarm system. "Thank you, guys. You don't know how much this means to me." He told them seriously.

"You're getting emotional again," Karev told him.

"Sorry sorry," Jackson said with a small chuckle.

"Look, we'll be back in a little while. How about you go and hold your daughter." Ben told him.

Before Jackson walked into the room he turned back around and said thanks again. "Oh, and you should probably tell Bailey, I'm fine with that plus I don't want you lying to your wife for me."

"If you don't want her to know then I won't tell her. It's not her business, and she'd understand. that." Ben said making sure Jackson knew he didn't mind keeping this from his wife.

"No, it's okay. I really don't mind her knowing. Plus she can probably help me out with Aryn too. I don't know much about kids." Jackson said nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, alright. I"ll tell her when she gets back from work. We'll see you in a little bit." Ben said.

"Yea, later," Jackson said before walking back into the room.

He gently picked up his daughter and sat in the chair on the side. "Hey angel," he said to her. "I'm your daddy." Aryn lay snuggled up in his arms dozing soundly. "I know it's important for babies to stay close to their mother's after birth, that it helps with attachment and whatnot, but that can't happen right now okay? But, I don't want you to forget your mother just because you can't be next to her." He smoothed her hair, and there was a lot of it. A reddish brown color. She squirmed a little and stretched her little arms. Her tiny mouth opened in a big yawn, as her oval-shaped eyes opened up to reveal beautiful blue-green eyes.

"Did you wake up so daddy can see you?" Jackson smiled at her and to his shock, she smiled back. "Looks like we're a little advanced aren't we." He grinned. "Well I'm gonna need you to hold off on all the cool stuff, we don't want your mom to miss too much." She yawned again and then squirmed in his arms. Her face scrunched up and she let out a cry.

Jackson's heart thumped in his chest. "Crap" he rocked her, shushing her. What did he do wrong, did he hurt her?

"She's just hungry," a nurse said as she stepped inside. "Here," the nurse handed him a pre-made bottle.

Jackson thanked her and grabbed the bottle. Once he placed it in Aryn's mouth she grabbed hold and greedily drank.

"Just make sure you stop occasionally so she doesn't drink too much too fast, and when she's done hold her up and pat her back." She passed him a little cloth to put over his shoulder. "It's in case she spits up." The nurse helpfully added.

"Thank you," he said gratefully with a weary look, trying to remember all the information.

"It's okay, I'm guessing you're a new parent. You'll get the hang of it. We get a lot of new parents in here, it just takes practice. You'll begin to differentiate between the different cries. Whether she's hungry, sleepy, whether she needs to be changed." She watched his eyes widen at the last one and she chuckled. "We'll do it a few times to show you how, it's not as bad as you think." She reassured him.

"I really appreciate this. My wife and I, we didn't..." Jackson trailed off.

"It's okay, I understand. It'll be hard being the only parent right now, but don't give up hope." She said.

"Yeah, believe me, I won't. I plan on my daughter having both her parents in her life." Jackson put the bottle down and patted her back, a few minutes later and a little rumble was heard. He wiped at the spit up and held her back in a cradle. She was back to sleep instantly.

"That's the gist of how it'll be for awhile and you're already a natural. You'll be fine." She told him with a smile as she exited the room leaving Jackson to smile down at his daughter. A few hours later he placed her down in the crib and decided to go check on April. "I'll be back later sweetie," Jackson told her as he placed a kiss on her cheek.

He walked out the door and made his way to April's room. She was still in the same condition that he last saw her in, though what did he really expect to change in the small amount of time that had passed. "April I really hope you wake up soon, I would hate for you to miss our daughter growing up. She's a real beauty too." He took hold of her hand. "I need you to wake up, I don't even know if I should call your parents or not." If it were up to him he'd choose not, but April was a forgiving person, and he knew that she would want her family to know if anything were to happen to her despite their judgment of her as of late.

Jackson stepped out of the room, he sighed and picked up his phone clicking on the number for April's mother. The phone rang and rang and rang with no answer, he tried her dad's and got the same response. Rolling his eyes he closed the phone and decided to try again tomorrow morning. Jackson looked at the phone and saw that it was 8 pm. He ran his hands through his hair and leaned back against the wall. He was exhausted, but he felt like if he closed his eyes and went to sleep something would happen to either April or Aryn and he didn't want to take that chance. It was a little irrational, but he could be irrational right now if he needed to be.

"What you doing out here?" he heard Alex say and he opened his eyes to see both him and Ben walking up to him with his duffle bag and another bag that smelled so good that it had his mouth watering. He couldn't remember how long it had been since he had last eaten. His stomach decided at that moment that it wanted to make its displeasure known to the world.

"It's a good thing we picked up some takeout, figured you hadn't eaten yet and we knew you wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon." They handed him the duffle and the bag of takeout.

"Thanks," Jackson said as he held onto the bags.

"No problem. Let us know if we can do anything else for you okay? Odds are you'll probably be seeing us tomorrow along with Bailey, she'll want to see the three of you." He said talking about Jackson, April, and Aryn.

Jackson nodded, he was okay with that. He trusted Ben and since Ben trusted Bailey Jackson did too. "That's fine with me. I've been getting some help from the nurses here on what to do and what to expect, but I think It'll be better coming from Bailey." He told them honestly.

Ben nodded. "Alright then, we'll leave you to it. Call if you need anything, or if anything changes with April's condition." Alex told him.

Jackson nodded his head and thanked them again. They walked away and Jackson stepped back into April's room to change and eat, and within an hour he was asleep in the chair next to April's bed holding tightly to her hand.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone here's the next chapter. Thank you for all the reviews and encouraging comments. Feel free to share your thoughts, If there's something you want me to add to the story let me know and I'll see if I can put it in there. Please continue to review, fav and follow. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

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Jackson woke up to the sound of a nurse entering the room to check on April's progress which was sadly the same. He got up and stretched, his body sore from sleeping in the chair the whole night. He looked at his phone and saw that he had indeed slept the whole night. It was 7 am. He walked into the bathroom and freshened up some then made his way to his daughters temporary home.

She was awake in the crib just laying there. Water bubbles popping in her mouth as she slobbered over herself. She seemed to have sensed his presence because she immediately got fussy and made her demands clear.

Jackson crossed the room and picked her up, grabbing a cloth to wipe up the drool. "And how's my little girl doing this morning?" Jackson asked in one of those ridiculous baby voices that everyone seemed to adopt when talking to a baby. He used to laugh at parents who did that and look at him now.

Aryn gurgled happily in his arms. "Well, aren't we happy today." He said as he walked around the room with her, bouncing her in a steady rhythm.

Jackson heard a knock at the door and looked up to see Bailey. "Hey," Jackson said as she entered the room. He looked at Bailey and smiled. "Bailey, I'd like you to meet my daughter Aryn." He looked at her nervously, while he knew she supported him, it was still hard for him to remember that not everyone expected the worse from him. She was one of the first ones to show him any respect after he became chairman and he wouldn't forget that.

"Oh Jackson, she's beautiful," Bailey said as she walked over to him and picked her up from his arms. Aryn for her part didn't fuss or cry, she simply relaxed in her hold. "Look at all this hair on your head," she said. "You must have given mommy lots of stomach aches" Bailey bounced her up and down and Aryn seemed to be enjoying the attention.

Jackson watched as Bailey expertly handled Aryn. "I guess no matter how long it's been, you never really forget how to take care of a baby," Jackson stated.

"Nope, it's like second nature" Bailey replied smiling happily at Aryn who was starting to fall sleep in her arms. Bailey gently laid Aryn down. She looked over at Jackson and her face became serious. "I saw April before I came up here. I'm sorry this happened Avery."

Jackson shrugged. "It sucks, but she'll be alright. She just needs some time." He said and he really believed it.

Bailey nodded her head in understanding. "Have you thought about transferring her to our hospital?"

"I've thought about it." He said roughly his face a mask of unrestrained anger.

Bailey got the point and dropped the topic for now. "Alright, so have you contacted your mom? Told her about what's going on?"

"She doesn't even know that we're married. We haven't talked much lately." He explained.

"Well, I think she'd want to know about all of this, she doesn't seem like the type to let anything come between the two of you. Webber told me she spoke very highly of you."

"Yeah, I bet she did." He replied rolling his eyes. "Look, I don't want to get into this right now. I'll tell her eventually." He said running his hands through his hair.

"Alright, so changing the topic. What do you want to know about babies."

"Anything you can tell me." He said chuckling. "I'm kind of clueless here."

Bailey laughed and they both sat down while she began preparing him for life as a parent.

...

A week went by and it was finally time for Jackson to take Aryn home. He was still a little worried, but he spent a lot of time in the NICU with Bailey and the nurses learning everything he could about how to take care of his daughter.

Jackson gently placed the car seat with Aryn inside on the floor next to him and took her out. He walked over to April and sat beside her taking her hand in his.

"Today's the day April, our daughter is going home. I just wish you were coming with us." He said pausing to gather himself up.

He let Aryn touch her mom for a second and then buckled her back in. kissing April's lips he whispered "I'll see you tomorrow" and walked sadly out the room with only one of the two most important girls in his life.

When Jackson got home he put Aryn in the crib he and April spent hours putting together. He laughed as he remembered that day.

~Flashback~

 _"Who says that it's the guy's job to fix the crib," April argued._

 _"Probably every handbook for parenting out there." He stated looking at all the pieces of the crib laying around the room. April had tried to put together the crib while Jackson was at work wanting to do anything other than sitting around, unfortunately, it was disastrous._

 _"I just wanted to help." She said with a hiccup in her voice._

 _"Aww babe, come on don't cry," he said as he sat on the carpet next to her. He rubbed her arms and kissed her forehead._

 _"It's just these stupid hormones." She said wiping her eyes. It was only partially true._

 _"I know babe. Here," he said handing her one of the pieces. "We'll fix it together, and if anyone asks you can take all the credit." He smirked._

 _April chuckled then looked into Jackson's eyes. "How did I get lucky enough to marry the sweetest man alive." She smiled at him. "I'm so in love with you."_

 _Jackson smiled "I love you too." He told her with a kiss to her lips. They spent the rest of the night putting the crib together and decorating the room._

~End of Flashback~

Jackson sat in the rocking chair remembering that night as his eyes dropped shut. He was asleep for 20 minutes before Aryn was up crying her eyes out. "Hey what's wrong sweetie," Jackson asked her picking her up and heading back to the rocking chair.

"I know you probably miss your momma, if I could wake her up I would. As soon as she's better she's gonna give you all the attention that you've been missing from her." Jackson whispered to Aryn while rocking her. She slowly started to calm down and fell asleep.

Jackson kept her with him for a while longer and then placed her back in her crib, and tried for another nap. This time he made it a good hour before he had to wake up and feed Aryn then change her.

He wasn't sure how he was gonna do this. Even when April woke up, whenever that would be, he'd have to help her out too. She wouldn't be able to get up every three hours to take care of Aryn. This would soon become too much for him to handle on his own. He was going to need help, and as much as he didn't want to he knew that he needed his mom. Probably his sisters too, but the latter could wait. So he picked up his phone and called his mom, he'd been ignoring all of her calls recently, so he wasn't sure how she'd react to him calling her.

"Hey, mom." He said nervously when she answered.

"Oh, baby boy. How are you? I'm so sorry for everything I've done, I only wanted you to see how much potential you had. Please forgive me." She begged as soon as she answered.

Jackson was shocked, to say the least. This was not how he expected this conversion to start. He never expected her to apologize for putting him in this position. He did feel a little better now, coming to her for help.

"I understand what you were trying to do, and I appreciate the confidence you have in me. That's not why I called you though. Do you think you can come down here, there are some things that I need you to help me out with. I don't know how long it will take, maybe a few weeks. I'll understand if you can't, but I'd really appreciate-" She cut off his babbling, something he picked up from April.

"I'm already down here for a meeting, but I can cancel whatever I have scheduled for the next few weeks. Your grandfather can handle anything that needs immediate attention. Just give me your address and I'll be there as soon as I can." She said interrupting him.

His mother just kept on surprising him. "Um...thank you." he sais sincerely.

"You don't need to thank me. I'm your mother, of course I'd drop everything to help you. You don't ask for help much, so the fact that you're asking me tells me that it's really important." She said to him.

Jackson told her the address and she promised to be there in 20 minutes.

He had just finished checking in on Aryn when he heard a knock on the door. He grabbed the baby monitor and quietly closed the door behind him.

He put the monitor on the kitchen counter and opened the door after checking who it was.

"Oh, baby how are you doing?" Catherine Avery said when she saw her son. It'd been so long since she talked to him, and she hadn't seen him since she ambushed him into becoming a chairman.

"I'm good mom," Jackson said wrapping his arms around her when she reached out to hug him. They walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Okay, so what's going on. What do you need my help with?" Catherine asked.

"Uh... do you remember April?" He asked her hesitantly, not sure how his mother felt about her.

"Yes, I do. The redhead trauma surgeon right?" She said carefully. Things with her son were still very fragile and she didn't want to say anything that would be taken the wrong way.

"Yeah, well she got in an accident, and she's in a coma," Jackson told her, his eyes tearing up like they always did whenever he thought or talked about her.

"Oh Jackson, I'm so sorry. I know that you guys are best friends. What did the doctors say?"

"They said that they weren't sure when she would wake up. It could be weeks, months, maybe even years." Jackson told her. "With head traumas, it's always difficult to predict when or if the person will get better." He said sadly.

"Okay, is Derek sure that that's all they can do?" She asked wanting to know what the neurologist thought.

"Derek?" Jackson asked her confused.

"Yes, Derek. I'm assuming that he checked her out right? He is the head neurologist right?"

"Um, April isn't at GSM. She's at Seattle press" Jackson told her forgetting that she didn't know.

"Oh, well, ok then. I still think that he should check her out, he's the best in the country, but that's completely up to you. Actually shouldn't that be up to her parents? Did they choose to bring her to Seattle press? They're a really great hospital too."

Jackson's eyes widened. He had completely forgotten to call April's parents. It slipped his mind, though he hadn't gotten a call from them either, he had April's phone and it hadn't rung once. That was over a week ago.

"That's just where she was heading when the accident happened." He told her.

"Have you two kept in touch since she left?" She questioned as she saw how affected he was by this.

Jackson let out a chuckle "Yeah, we have. Mom, we're married." Jackson said his fingers nervously turning the ring on his finger. "We live here together."

Catherine looked down at her son's hand, and there was indeed a band on his left ring finger. "Wow, I didn't know," she said surprised.

"Yeah, we kept it quiet. No one really knows."

"I just thought that me being your mom and all that you would have told me sooner than this." She said sourly. Jackson could hear the hurt in her voice.

"I'm sorry mom. When we decided to get married we weren't exactly on speaking terms. April isn't really a big fan of her family either so it was just us and we decided that that was all we needed." Jackson told her.

Catherine looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry that our relationship was so broken that you felt the need to hide this from me." She told him taking a hold of his hands. "Okay, that's not what I'm here for. Enough of this pity party. You called me to help you so that's what I'm going to do. So what is it you need? Do I need to contact the hospital and get April transferred? Do you need me to-"

"Waaaa waaaa waaaa..." They hear.

"Jackson? Why is there a baby crying in your house?" Catherine asked her son slightly concerned.

Jackson scratched his head and chuckled nervously. "Well, mom remember me saying that I needed your help? Well.. " he said getting up and walking towards Aryn's room, he opened the door. Catherine followed her son into the room and was shocked for the second time today.

"Mom meet your granddaughter," Jackson told her, picking Aryn up and handing her to his mom. Catherine was completely taken off guard.

"Jackson, oh my... why didn't you tell me? Scratch that. I'm so sorry that I hurt you so much that you felt the need to keep your family from me." She said with tears in her eyes. She slowly walked around the room with Aryn, rocking her and whispering in her ear. A huge grin on her face.

"I didn't want you judging my family, or trying to tell us what to do. She wasn't planned, but that didn't matter to us. I just, I can't do this alone. There are only a few people that I even trust telling all this too, but I won't keep taking them away from whatever they may be doing because I'm too stressed. I just need a few days of rest. Can you please help me with this?" Jackson all but begged his mom. He was desperate or else he wouldn't be caught dead doing this. His daughter was more important than his pride though, so he would suck it up.

"Oh baby, you don't have to ask me to help you with this. I'm your mother, April is my daughter now, and this beautiful little girl is my grandbaby. Whatever it is you need I will always be there for you. All of you." She said looking him in the eyes so that she was sure he understood.

"You know your sisters have been calling me constantly about you. They can't get a hold of you and they miss you." Catherine told him.

"Yeah well, I'm not exactly ready to see them." He said stubbornly.

"Jackson, I don't want to lecture you, and I know you had every reason not to speak to either one of us, but don't deny this baby her aunts. Or April sister's. You guys need to talk this out. Yes, they were wrong, we all were, but If you can forgive me then you can forgive them. We are family and family always comes first. They know that now." She told him determined to get her family back together.

Jackson nodded his head. He still wasn't ready to talk to them, but his mother was right. He wouldn't deny his daughter her family, and if April could have some sisters that might actually give a crap about her then who was he to take that chance away from them. They were all adults now and he was willing to hash everything out if it meant his family would be happy. "Alright, I'll call them." He decided.

"That's my baby," she said rubbing his face. "Now, go get some sleep. You look about ready to drop." She shooed him.

"Thanks, mom," Jackson said relieved. Giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. "Everything that you'll need is right in here," he said pointing to the rack.

"Go ahead and get some sleep baby. I know how to take care of a baby. I had three of them you know." She chastised him.

Jackson laughed, "Okay." He said kissing Aryn on the head.

He walked to his room and dropped to the bed, he was out before his head even hit the pillow.


	8. Chapter 8

~Hey everyone. I know it's been a while but I'm back. The life of a working woman leaves little time for me to write. This story hasn't been forgotten even if it been 3 weeks since the last update. Thank you for all the reviews, favs, and follows. Let me know if there is anything that you might want me to add to the story because I am open to suggestions. Please continue to comment and let me know what you think. Now on to the story, I hope you enjoy. : )

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...

3 weeks passed by and Jackson felt like he was fully relaxed for the first time in a long time. His mother was a godsend. He didn't know what had gotten into her, but she was almost a completely different person. She didn't overstep or try to change how he did things and that was exactly what he needed, for her to just be his mom.

He still had a few days left and he knew that he should spend as much time with Aryn as he could because he was gonna be really busy when he got back to work. He just prayed that there wouldn't be too much paperwork involved. With April still in her coma and his mom having to go back home tonight, he was going to have to take Aryn to the daycare at the hospital which also meant that he was going to have to tell the staff about his daughter, and it wouldn't be long before everyone else found out.

He walked into the kitchen after his shower and smelled eggs, Bacon, French toast, and fresh coffee. "Morning ma," Jackson said walking up to her and kissing her on the cheek.

"Morning baby. Why don't you have a seat and I'll fix you up a plate." She told him.

Jackson sat down and when his mom placed the food in front of him he took his time, enjoying the delicious taste and regrettably his last meal made by his mom. He looked up and saw her staring at him "What?" He said after he swallowed the food in his mouth. Always respectful, as his mother taught him.

"Nothing, I'm just so used to you inhaling the whole plate that you actually eating like a human being looks foreign to me." She said with a smile on her face.

"Haha very funny," Jackson said sarcastically. He sighed "I'm just going to really miss you," he admitted.

"Oh sweetheart," his mom said walking over and kissing his forehead. "I think that's the first time you've ever verbally admitted that," she told him.

"Well, this is one of the first times that you've actually dropped everything to help me out. And for so long too. Three weeks, that's probably an eternity for you," He said laughing a little in the end. "but seriously, thank you ma. I really needed this." He told her sincerely.

"Anytime baby," she replied and walked across the hall and into the room to get Aryn who they had just heard crying through the monitor.

Jackson finished his food, washed his dish and headed to the room to spend time with his daughter and mother.

Before he knew it, it was time for his mom to head home. "Now remember if anything comes up just call me. And if April wakes up before I come back down again, let me know so that I can catch the next flight." She explained to him.

"I know mom, you told me all this already," Jackson said smiling.

"You also need to call your sisters, who you were supposed to have called weeks ago." She chastised. "And your uncle Bert. He's been complaining about you avoiding him for years now."

Uncle Norbert was Jackson's uncle on his father's side. They hadn't spoken in a while, and that was on Jackson. Norbert was always his favorite uncle growing up. He just sort of lost contact with his family when he became interested in the medical field. Their lack of support hurt him enough to cut off ties with the whole family on both sides. Jackson felt guilt fill him up at the thought. He was happy that his uncle hadn't given up on him like his father did. Jackson nodded his head to his mother in acknowledgment.

She gave him a long stare to make sure he was serious. "Okay, well I'll miss you, baby," she told him kissing his cheek.

"I'll miss you too mom," he said hugging her.

"Bye sweetie," she said to Aryn giving her a big smooch on the cheek causing Aryn to smile happily.

"Don't forget to take pictures and send them to me." his mother said when she reached the door.

"I will" Jackson replied and she was gone.

"Looks like it's just the two of us again," Jackson said to Aryn who just smiled at him. "I guess I should make some calls huh?" He said as he carried Aryn to her room. He layed her down in her crib and let her be until she fell back asleep.

He walked out and dialed his uncle's number. This would be the easiest of the two conversations he'd have to have, three if he'd have to call his sisters separately. He was not looking forward to that call.

"Hello, Norbert speaking."

"Hey, uncle Bert," Jackson answered nervously. Silence greeted him. "Uncle Bert?" Jackson asked worriedly. Great, he broke his uncle. "It's Jackson," he said in case his uncle was clueless as to who was calling him.

His uncle cleared his throat and he could hear him take a huge breath in. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. People could change in a year, and it'd been a few of those.

"I know who this is Jackie." He heard his uncle respond. Jackson never seemed to have a problem when his uncle called him that.

"Uh, I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch. It's been hard." He said trying to explain his absence.

"I understand why you've kept your distance and while I don't agree with you blocking me out of your life I can accept that you had your reasons. Valid ones if I'm not mistaken. All that matters to me now is that you finally decided to call." Bert said sincerely, with no criticism.

This was what made his youngest uncle his favorite, though he wouldn't say it to the rest of the family. The only ones who really knew were his mom and his uncle.

"So, how have you been, how's life treating you? I hear you're a plastic surgeon. How'd that come to be? Last I heard you were into cardio." Bert questioned.

Jackson chuckled. A smile gracing his face. He could always count on his uncle to support him no matter what. He didn't belittle the fact that he'd chosen a "lesser" field than the rest of his family. He didn't mock it or talk about how that choice wasn't much of a surprise. That was all Jackson could think of the rest of his family saying, and he wouldn't have been that far off if it were a few years ago. Now though, he had no idea if they'd changed, he certainly had.

"Yeah I started off there, but something about plastics just called to me. I love having the ability to help change someone's life, and I know cardio, or neuro, are more life-changing than plastics, but there's just something about plastics that really stuck to me. There have been so many surgeries that I have done that have saved the lives of countless patients. The smiles on their faces when they look in the mirror and can finally be happy with themselves is the greatest feeling. It's not just butt lifts and boob jobs. I mean yeah there are the occasional patients that just want that," his uncle chuckled but didn't interrupt him.

"But there are those who have survived breast cancer and have had to get mastectomies, and I'm able to give them something that was so cruelly taken from them by something that was out of their control. There are so many burn victims that can hardly look at themselves let alone step out of their homes and I've been gifted with the talents to help them feel happy about themselves." Bert could hear the joy that Jackson had for his work, and that's what made a great doctor.

"I don't regret changing my field. I learned from the best plastic surgeon there was and I'm happy to say that if he were alive, I believe he would be proud of the work I've done. He helped me so much, and I wouldn't have any of the things in my life if it weren't for him." Jackson took a deep breath. He definitely didn't plan on saying all that, but he was glad he got that out there before anything else.

"Jackson I am so proud of the man that you've become, I always knew that you could do anything you set your mind to, and I'm just happy that you're happy," Bert said to him.

It was something that a father should have been saying to his son, Jackson thought. He was lucky that he had an uncle that was so supportive of him. He regretted losing touch with him.

Jackson spent the rest of the day talking to his uncle about his life, good and bad until he finally came to the reason for his unexpected call.

"So how's my handsome nephew doing with the ladies, it can't be any trouble for you." Bert laughed. It was a known fact that the Avery clan had unnatural beauty, but Jackson with those blue-green eyes of his had been trouble since grade school when it came to the ladies.

Jackson smiled "Actually, I'm married," he said.

"You're married!?" Bert said in surprise. " I can't believe you didn't tell me-" Bert interrupted him.

"and I have a daughter." Jackson finished. There was silence for a second and then his uncle spoke.

"So you have a wife. And a daughter." Bert just couldn't believe this. "Well, what are their names?" He questioned shocked.

"My wife's name is April and our baby's name is Aryn." He said a little more subdued than before.

"The friend that came from the other hospital with you?" Bert asked having just been given the cliff notes for his nephews past few years.

"Yeah, that's the one." He explained to him everything that happened between them and where they were now.

"I'm so sorry Jackson," his uncle said, the sadness was clear in his voice.

"Yeah, me too," Jackson answered.

Bert cleared his throat. "Well I'm coming over there to see you and your family, so I hope you're okay with that."

Jackson relaxed. This conversion went way better then he expected. "I'm more than okay with that." He admitted, he didn't think he could ever have too much help right now.

"Good good, I'll let you know when I book the ticket, and please don't ignore any more of my phone calls." He said with a little laugh, but Jackson could hear the seriousness behind it.

"I won't, I promise. I'll see you when you get here." He said.

"Alright son, goodnight," Bert said hanging up the phone.

Jackson let out a sigh of relief and mentally prepared himself for his next conversation. His mom gave him the numbers for both his sisters. Layla was the oldest of the two and Payton was the youngest. They'd shared an apartment together since they finished college. They were close in age only a year apart from each other. He didn't know much about their lives, he didn't even know what medical field they'd chosen. He and his sisters had really fallen out of touch, he hadn't spoken to them since he left for college. He knew that this would be a tough conversation.

His mother had given him the number to the house phone in their apartment and their individual cell numbers. He was going to call the house in the hopes of killing two birds with one stone. He was secretly hoping that they were both at work though because no amount of preparation would get him ready to deal with his sisters.

He had the phone on speaker as he quickly checked in on Aryn.

"Hello?"

Jackson closed the door after seeing Aryn soundly asleep.

"Hey," Jackson said as he sat on the couch.

"Who is this?" The voice responded.

Jackson might not have spoken to either of his sisters in years, but he could still tell their voices apart. "Hey Payton, it's Jackson."

"Jackson? Wow, I never thought I'd hear from you." She said

"Uh, yeah. I didn't actually plan on talking to you guys again. Speaking of which, is Layla around?"

"Yeah, she is." He heard Layla respond into the phone.

"How are you guys?" Jackson asked awkwardly making small talk. It was not his thing, but he honestly didn't know what to say to them.

"Were good. How about you?" Layla said sounding equally awkward.

"Okay, clearly this is weird, and this small talk isn't us. I'm just gonna get to the point." Jackson told them.

"Oh, okay," Layla said a little disappointed. They may not have had much to say to each other, but if they couldn't even handle small talk then how were they going to fix things between the three of them.

"Well, what did you want to talk to us about?" Payton asked her brother. She was a little sad that he didn't sound interested in having an actual conversation with them.

Jackson sighed, he didn't want to hurt them, he just wasn't sure how to fix things. "I talked to mom, she stayed here for a few weeks helping me through some things."

"Really? We didn't know that." Layla said.

"What's wrong? What did you need mom's help with?" Payton asked.

Jackson breathed in. Well, it was better to rip the band-aid off fast. "I'm married, and we have a daughter. I just needed some help with settling in."

"You're married!"

"What do you mean you have a daughter?"

"I mean exactly what I said. I have a wife, her names April and a daughter named Aryn, she's about a month and a half." Jackson explained. He could already feel a weight lifting from his shoulders. He wasn't sure how this would turn out, but he was relieved to finally have it out.

"I'm a little speechless here," Layla said.

"Ditto" Payton agreed.

"Yeah," Jackson scratched the back of his head. "It's not like we've kept in contact with each other, I didn't really see the point in telling you guys," Jackson admitted.

"I know Jackson, we were real bitches to you. Hell, the whole family was really, but that's beside the point. Were you sisters, we should have had your back." Layla said to him.

"Yeah, we should have supported you in whatever it was you wanted. We deserved not being a part of your life. We're really sorry, and we wanted to tell you that a billion times we just never had the balls to call you. We knew we screwed up and we didn't think you would forgive us." Payton added.

Jackson was once again floored. He wasn't sure what to say to them. They sounded honestly apologetic for everything they did or didn't do in their case. He would be a complete jerk if he didn't accept their apology. They weren't kids anymore, he didn't need to worry about how long he should hold a grudge for. The whole point of this call was to rekindle their relationship. He wanted his immediate family to have other people other than himself in their lives. They all needed this. Jackson sighed.

"I can't forgive you completely for what you did. It may seem childish to you, but you really hurt me. I thought for sure out of everyone I could count on you two to have my back. I was wrong and it's going to take way more than one phone call to fix this. At the same time, I don't want to shut my wife and daughter out of a family. Before everything went down we were really close and I want my family to experience what it is to have a big caring family. One free of judgment. I won't have anyone talking bad about them-" Payton cut him off.

"You don't have to worry about that, we promise that all that is behind us. We will never ever do or say anything to risk losing you again."

"What she said" Layla agreed. They all chuckled.

Jackson told them everything that was going on with him and by the end of the conversation, he was looking at two more trips to Seattle. They talked for a little bit, trying to get better acquainted with each other again. It was definitely going to take more than a day to fix their relationship, but they were getting there.

Jackson hung up with them reminding him to be ready for their visit in two weeks. He was less stressed after he closed the phone. He felt like he could breathe again, he was slowly getting his family back. He knew it was only a matter of time before April woke up and when she did, she would have a whole family supporting her and their daughter.

He walked over to his laptop and finished up some things that needed to be done before he went back to work in a few days. He wanted the next few days to just be him and Aryn. No distractions.

He finished and headed to bed, only getting up 3 times to feed and change Aryn, which was most definitely still a feat.

When morning finally rolled in, Jackson spent that day plus the following two with Aryn, spoiling her and giving her whatever she may or may not need. But really, he had to spoil her one time for himself and one time for April. He visited April every day during those 3 days with Aryn, but her condition hadn't changed much. She wasn't deteriorating, in fact, she looked healthy other than the fact that she was still in a coma.

It was the night before he had to go back to work and he had yet to tell anyone other than Karev, Ben, and Bailey about Aryn and April. He was worried about what the others would say. He wasn't embarrassed by his family, not at all, he just wouldn't sit back and let them speak negatively about them. If it didn't work out, he'd just have to find another place for Aryn, his daughter came first.

He stayed up late trying to figure out what he would do tomorrow, but nothing came to mind. Well, he'd just have to go with whatever happened.

He finished feeding and washing Aryn and put her to bed before also eating, showering and heading to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

~Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter! Thank you to all of you who reviewed and gave me opinions on what to put in the story. I did add one of your suggestions in here and I hope you liked how I subtly incorporated it into the story. Thanks to all of those who added this to your favs and follows. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

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Waking up the next morning Jackson felt refreshed. He got up, quickly showered and got dressed. He made a quick breakfast for himself and went into the room to get Aryn.

He walked into the room only to find her laying in her crib wide awake. "Hey sweetie, were you letting daddy finish up before he came to get you? Well thank you, I really appreciate that. " Jackson said to her, getting her out of the crib and getting her ready. He made her a bottle and fed her before getting all their things ready and heading to the car.

When he put Aryn into the car seat he checked it three times to make sure it was secure, after all, he spent a lot of money on the car seat making sure that it was the safest one available. Money wasn't really a problem for him at the moment and Aryn's safety was what mattered. After checking one last time he got into the car and drove to the hospital.

He pulled up in his parking spot and got Aryn out of the car. Jackson made sure to get there early so as not to run into anyone. He walked quickly through the hospital and luckily no one noticed him.

"Hey," he said to the daycare nurse.

"Dr. Avery, hi. How are you?" She asked. Jackson had already talked to the daycare teachers and they knew the gist of what was going on.

"Hey, Karen. I'm good, how are you?" he asked her walking into the room with Aryn who was already back to sleep. Everyone was right, all she seemed to do was sleep, eat and cry. Not to mention all the diaper changes.

"I'm doing well," She told him. "Aww, now isn't she just adorable" Karen gushed over Aryn as Jackson reluctantly handed her over.

"Thank you." He said with a smile. "I already have all her bottles set, just add the special formula. Anything else you may need is in the bag. If something comes up all you have to do is page me." He told her.

"Okay. Don't worry I have it under control. Plus you can always stop by and see her whenever you feel like it." She let him know, trying to reassure him, knowing how it was for parents especially first time parents to leave their children for the first time. She didn't remind him that she dealt with kids all day long and that he had already explained everything to her on the phone. She knew he was just nervous.

"Okay." He said as he kissed Aryn bye. "I'll see you later sweetie," Jackson said to her and then headed out of the room. He didn't think it'd be that hard leaving her. He was finally understanding what they meant when they said it was harder on the parents than it was on the kids when they were separated.

He walked into the boardroom and patiently waited for everyone to get there. Since he had gotten to the hospital extra early there was still a lot of time left. He spent the rest of that time finishing up paperwork and reading up on what they would need to discuss in the meeting. He didn't even realize how late it was until everyone started showing up.

"Good morning Dr. Avery," Derek said, everyone following his lead.

Looking up Jackson saw that they were all filling up the room "Good morning" he said to them in a professional tone. Jackson waited until everyone sat down before he started speaking. "Okay, so we should probably talk about any clinical trials that you might want to present to the board." He said getting right to the point.

"So I guess you don't want to talk about where you've been this past month," Cristina said.

"Um... no, not really," Jackson said looking at her incredulously. Was she serious?

"Look were sorry okay? Karev, Ben, hell even Bailey chewed us out. We hadn't realized that you didn't want this job." Cali told him.

Jackson was really beginning to think that everything he ever said to them went into one ear and out the other. He clearly remembered telling them those exact words and them not believing him. "Well how about the countless times that I actually told you that I didn't want the job. I guess you just blocked it out?" Jackson said in annoyance. Frankly, they didn't deserve to know what happened. Honestly, It wasn't any of their business.

"We're really sorry. And if you don't want to tell us what's been going on then you don't have to, we won't bug you about it anymore." Meredith said giving everyone a look to back down. Them ganging up on him wouldn't do anything to help the situation.

Jackson looked at all of them and made his decision. He had to do what was right for both Aryn and April. "I still don't trust any of you guys. I'm not even entirely sure if she would want me to tell you, but she was all for forgiving people and giving them second chances so, the emergency was April." He told them looking at each and every one of them to see if he should go on or if they were going to say something about it.

"Kepner?" Kristina asked slightly confused. They hadn't heard her name spoken in a while.

"Yeah. She got into a car accident, and she's been in a coma ever since." Jackson explained holding his emotions in.

"No offense but, why did you get called? I know you were best friends and all, but your not family." Arizona said trying to say it in a way that he wouldn't take offense to.

Jackson saw that everyone agreed with what she was saying. "Actually, me and April are married. We've been married for almost a year now." Showing them his wedding band that no one seemed to notice, which was surprising being that he'd been wearing it for a while. Although if you barely pay attention to someone it would be easy to miss something like that.

"Well that's... how did we miss that?" Meredith asked no one in particular.

"You guys weren't really friends with me and April before, and then after the whole purchase of the hospital, you weren't even civil with me. There was no need to tell you guys, we didn't need anyone else putting us down." Jackson explained.

"Where is April? I mean what hospital?" Derek asked focusing on the more serious part of the discussion. She clearly wasn't in their hospital.

"She's at Seattle press." He replied.

"Why wasn't she brought here? Not that there's anything wrong with that hospital, it has a great reputation." Derek said.

"She was on her way there for an appointment and then the accident happened," Jackson said shrugging his shoulders.

"How is she doing? Is she improving?" Hunt asked. He felt guilty because he was partially responsible for her no longer having a job at the hospital, not that he had much of a choice. She failed her boards and he had to let her go.

"She's not better but she not worse either. I'll be seeing her after I leave here tonight." Jackson told him. He was actually surprised that everyone seemed to care about what happened to April.

"There is one more thing. And I'm really only telling you this because she'll be at the hospital too and you'll be seeing her around." Jackson started, he might as well get it all out. He didn't want to make it look like he was hiding his daughter from anyone.

"She?" Arizona questioned.

"Are you hiring someone new?" Hunt asked.

"No, I'm not hiring someone new," Jackson said as he scrunched up his eyebrows. "She" is Aryn. She's mine and April's daughter." Jackson replied.

The looks on their faces would have been comical if the situation wasn't so weird. There was a pregnant pause before the questions started.

"You.. you guys have a daughter?" Cali asked, being the first one to snap out of the haze they were all in.

"Yea, we do. April was 32 weeks along when the accident happened. They had to do an emergency c section. She was born 2 months early, but she was healthy. She stayed in the hospital for a while and then I brought her home." Jackson said with a smile on his face. He really wished that April could be here to see her.

"I didn't have anywhere else to bring her and with it just being me I had to bring her here. My mom helped me out in the beginning but she can't exactly drop everything to watch her. I didn't really expect to raise her on my own. We never made plans on what we'd do if the other wasn't there" Jackson admitted.

"Jackson. I'm so sorry" Meredith said grabbing hold of his hand from her seated position next to him. "I know that you don't consider us friends anymore but if you ever need help with anything all you have to do is ask. We're really sorry for how we've been treating you and how we treated April when she was here. We promise to never let our preconceived perceptions of you get in the way of who you really are." She said to him and he could tell that she was sincere, and from the looks on the rest of their faces so were the other doctors.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me. I don't know when April will wake up, but if she doesn't..." He clears his throat "I'm gonna need help with her. April isn't close to her family anymore, they didn't appreciate her having sex before marriage and breaking her oath with God or whatever. And I'm just starting to talk to my mom and the rest of my family again, but she can't be here as much as we'd both like her to be, neither can the rest of them. So I'm kinda on my own here. So any advice would be appreciated. Now I'm not saying that l forgive you guys, but I just needed to put this out there for their sakes." Almost everyone in the room had kids so they had to know way more about them then he did and like he said he needed all the help he could get.

"Who else knows?" Derek asked.

"Karev, Ben, and Bailey," Jackson replied.

"Well, we really wouldn't mind watching her whenever you need, or helping you out when you need. Once and a while we have all the kids get together to play while we relax. Obviously, it'll be a while before Aryn can play, but we could watch her for you while you relax." Meredith said. "Do you mind...uh can we see her?" She asked wanting to see the little girl. They all had soft spots for kids, that was the one thing they all had in common. Well, everyone but Cristina. While she loved Meredith's kids she wasn't sure she wanted her own.

Jackson thought that over for a long time and then came up with his answer. He had to keep reminding himself that closing everyone off was only hurting his family. Telling them was better than keeping everything secret, which he had to admit was very tiring.

"Um, sure. If you want to I guess." He told them. They all got up and followed him to the daycare. He waved Bailey, Ben, and Karev over too, briefly explaining to them what was going on.

"So you finally decided to tell them? Why now?" Karev asked him.

"I don't know. It wasn't planned or anything, it just happened." Jackson said. They reached the daycare room and everyone waited for Jackson to make a move.

"I guess I'll just go in and get her, give me a sec." He said a little nervously.

"So this is happening," Kristina said shocked.

"Yeah, I can't believe it," Meredith added. It was one thing to talk about it but seeing it was a whole other thing.

Jackson walked out the door holding a small bundle in his arms. "Everyone this is Aryanna Jordan Avery. Aryn for short." Jackson smiled.

"Oh my gosh! She's so adorable, can I hold her?" Cali asked. She loved babies and couldn't wait to get her hands on the little munchkin.

"Yeah," Jackson said passing his daughter over to Cali. He was a little hesitant but he knew they wouldn't do or say anything to hurt her. "It was only his hesitance about them that was giving him pause.

"Avery, she's beautiful," Meredith told him. Everyone crowded around Cali. Aryn suddenly opened her eyes letting out a little yawn and stretching her tiny arms and everyone awed. She had the most beautiful eyes, the exact color of Jackson's.

"Well if you weren't sure that she was yours there's definitely no denying it," Cristina said and everyone looked at her. "What?" She asked, clearly not seeing what the problem was.

Instead of being insulted, Jackson simply laughed. That was just like Cristina, no filter. "Your right there's definitely no denying it. She looks just like me," he said smiling at Aryn. His daughter looked at him and her smile widened as she recognized her dad.

"And she's smart like her mommy and daddy. "That's Dada isn't it," Cali said in a baby voice causing Aryn to smile and everyone else to gush over her happiness.

Jackson looked over at Karev, "This is what April would want. Aryn deserves to have people other than me and you guys in her life. It may take time for me to forgive them, but I trust that they will watch out for her." Jackson said to him.

Jackson's hands touched his chest where he felt the ring he had attached to the string around his neck.

His mind went back to that day in the hospital when he waited for April to get back from surgery. He had sat on that rough hospital chairs wringing his hands together with his mind lost in the what ifs. What if April didn't make it, what if their baby didn't make it, what if they both died. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if either scenario occurred.

 _ *** Begin flashback ***_

 _ **"Mr. Avery?" Jackson jumped up at the sound of his name. He watched as a nurse came over to him with April's belongings in a plastic bag. She handed it to him and he was thankful that she left after that, as his eyes filled up with tears.**_

 _ **He slumped down in the chair and opened the bag, his eyes spotting the shiny item inside. Jackson carefully pulled it out and held it in his hands. April's ring sat there with specks of dried blood on it. He rubbed at it until it was clean again and tucked it inside his pocket. Later when he got home he tied it to a string and kept it around his neck wanting it close to him at all times.**_

 _ ***End flashback***_

Jackson smiled sadly at the memory as he rubbed the ring. He didn't want to leave it on her where it could get stolen, it was safer with him for now.

"Hey, Avery, why don't you head home. Were good for today, we'll see you tomorrow morning." Derek suggested.

"But I just got here," Jackson said confused.

"Yeah, but you finished up the paperwork that was needed and turned in everything else, we can discuss the trials tomorrow. Plus I think someone wants her daddy." Arizona told him.

He looked over at Aryn who was in Arizona's hands. "But I-" Jackson started only to be cut off by the ringing of his phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and his heart stopped. It was Seattle press, and they would only be calling about one thing or one person that is.


	10. Chapter 10

~Hey everyone! I'm finally back with the next chapter to my story. I'm sorry for the long wait. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and followed. I hope my long breaks between chapters haven't stopped you all from reading. I have thrown a wrench into the story so be prepared, but on the bright side, something good has happened also. I just want to clarify this with everyone. I am not a doctor. I have no idea if anything I write is actually true so don't be surprised if something sounds wrong. Its fanfiction for a reason we'll just pretend that it makes sense lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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...

"Hello?" Jackson answered the phone, his voice trembling and hands sweating. He wiped them on his pant scrubs.

"Is this Jackson Avery?" A female voice said on the phone.

"Yeah, yes this is him," Jackson replied nervously.

"There's been a change in your wife's condition. We'd like for you to come to the hospital." The voice told him.

"Yeah, of course. I'll um I'm on my way." Jackson dropped his trembling hand.

"Who was that?" Karev asked as he walked over to his friend.

"That was the hospital. They want me to come." Jackson said as he pulled himself together. He couldn't lose it right now. He had no idea what was actually going on and he didn't know for a fact that something was wrong. He wouldn't think the worst until it happened.

Jackson walked over to Arizona and picked up his daughter. He gave her a kiss on the head and whispered to her. "Everything is going to be fine." When push came to shove though he wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of trusting anybody to watch his daughter. His options were kind of limited though. He knew while Alex was great with kids, he'd seen from his experience in the PEDs department he wasn't yet ready to watch a baby on his own.

Jackson looked towards Bailey and Ben. "I know it's sudden and out of the blue, but if I have to stay at the hospital for a whole, I don't want to have to keep her with me. I'm also not comfortable leaving her here either, so if you can I mean if it's not a problem with you-"

Bailey decided to put the poor man out of his misery. Clearly, it was hard for him to ask for assistance, though she couldn't blame him. "We'd love to watch Aryn for you. We'll pick her up from the nursery after we get off."

"Yeah man, it's no problem. You just get to the hospital and make sure everything is right with your girl." Ben gripped his shoulder.

Jackson smiled at them ama sighed in relief. One problem fixed. He thought.

Alex walked up to him and carefully took Aryn out of his hands. "Go Avery." He encouraged him as he held the baby. Alex wasn't at all offended that Jackson chose Bailey and Ben to watch his daughter. While he was a hit with the kids, he wasn't yet ready to take one home with him. At least not one this small this soon. He was more comfortable in the safety of the hospital.

Jackson nodded and rushed off. He wasn't sure what he was going to walk into when he got there, but that wasn't going to stop him.

It took him frighteningly less time than it should have to get to the hospital. He was honestly surprised that a cop hadn't stopped him. It was pretty reckless considering the reason for all of this was that April got into a car accident.

"Hey, I'm here to talk to Dr. Freeman about my wife April Avery," Jackson told the nurse at the station.

"Goodmorning Mr. Avery." The nurse said having recognized the man from his almost daily visits to the hospital. "I just paged her, she should be here any minute now."

Those minutes seemed to drag on and on and on, and yet when the Dr. finally did arrive it was all too soon.

"Jackson, how are you?" The Dr. asked as she walked up to him.

She must be joking. He was definitely not feeling up to small talk. "I'm going out of my mind right now doc, so if you could tell me the reason I'm here that'd be great," Jackson told her a little irritable.

"They didn't tell you anything? I thought they would have let you know instead of leaving you to worry." She said as she looked towards him apologetically.

"No, I have no idea why I'm here. Well other than the fact that it's about April. I'm trying to stay positive right now, but the longer I have to wait for news the more my mind starts to come up with random reasons for the call." He admitted.

"I'm sorry about that Jackson. We called you because April has shown signs of waking up. She should be awake before the night is over and I figured you would want to be here when that happens." She explained.

Jackson looked at her with a blank expression. He couldn't have been hearing her right. It sounded like she was telling him that his wife was going to be waking up. They had better be one million percent positive that this was happening, because if they got his hopes up and nothing happened this would break him.

"Are you sure? What was so different about today than any other day?" He asked.

"She's been moving more than normal. She's responded to pain stimuli and she's been talking. Nothing coherent really and it's just been a few words, but we've been able to make out a few names. Yours and your daughter's specifically." She smiled at the look of shock on his face.

This was happening. This was really happening. He was completely speechless. "This is... I don't actually know what to say." He laughed a little hysterically.

The doctor smiled, "It's completely normal. It's a shock I know, but we knew it would happen eventually. It was just a matter of when it would happen. You don't need to say anything though, just go be with your wife. I'm sure you want to be the first person she sees when she wakes up." The doctor encouraged him.

Jackson was grinning from ear to ear. He still couldn't really understand what was happening. He longed for this day to come, dreamed about the moment that April would finally open her eyes. His mind had come up with all sorts of things both good and bad and he was overjoyed that it was good.

Jackson thanked her and made his way to April's room. There she lay, as still as she had been the past month. It was hard to believe that she would be awake soon, but he wasn't going to doubt what the doctor said.

He took a seat next to her bed and picked up her hand noticing that it was bare. Jackson reached around his neck and untied the string. He carefully removed the ring and placed it on her finger, his heart jumping in his chest. She was going to want to see the ring on her finger when she woke up.

* * *

Bailey finished working and made her way to the daycare. She couldn't believe that she would be taking care of a little baby once again. After her first child and her divorce, she hadn't really had plans to have another one. Then she married Ben and they'd decided that they weren't in any rush to have anymore. He was content with being the stepdad. Now, look at them, about to bring home an infant.

She couldn't get over the fact that she was picking up Jackson and April's child. The fact that they got married didn't shock her too much. She saw the connection they had. They went through something traumatic with each other. Losing someone was hard enough, but they lost two of the only people they knew. The only two people they had left in their class. Their best friends. That kind of experience bonded people. What she was more surprised about was the fact that they had a child, but they were probably just as surprised about that too. Children had a way of creeping up on people whether you were prepared for them or not.

Opening the door Bailey walked into the daycare and made her way over to the crib holding baby Avery. She lay nestled under a fluffy pink blanket that looked like April possibly knitted it herself.

"Are you here to pick up baby Avery?" The nurse asked Bailey as she stood in front of her crib.

"Yes, I am" Bailey cooed reaching over to pick up the sleeping Aryn.

"She's a great baby, barely made a peep." The nurse said as she picked up all of Aryn's things and packed them in the baby bag.

"That's good to know," Bailey said as she went to grab the bag with her free hand.

"I'll get that," Ben said reaching over to take the bag from Bailey's hands.

"It's about time you showed up." Bailey joked.

"Hey!" Ben said shouldering the baby bag with a chuckle.

The nurse handed Bailey Aryn's Minnie mouse security blanket. "That's the last of her things, you're good to go."

They thanked the nurse as Ben picked up the car seat from the floor both making their way out the door.

"You ready for this?" Ben asked her as he walked down the Hospital hall.

Bailey stopped and stared at him raising one eyebrow. "What, you think little Tuck raised himself?" She asked him sarcastically.

Ben held his hands up. "I only meant that you haven't had to raise a baby in a while and I haven't exactly raised any kids either."

"It's like surgery. You never forget it. It's instinctual." She said turning back around and walking out the door.

Ben rolled his eyes in good nature and followed her out the door.

They buckled Aryn in her car seat and closed the door. Bailey made it into the passenger side and as she waited for the door to close on the driver's side she realized Ben hadn't come inside yet.

"Ben what are you doing? Get in the car." She called out to him.

"I'm just making sure she's buckled up tight." He said checking the straps.

It was Bailey's turn to roll her eyes. "Ben honey I already buckled her in."

"Yeah I know, but I don't want to be responsible for anything happening to Jackson's daughter." Ben had to admit he sounded a little paranoid, but who could really blame him. He had the life of his best friends child in his hands and he wasn't taking any risks.

After the fifth and final check, he finally made it into the car. Their twenty-minute drive took a total of forty minutes. Ben driving at exactly one mile under the speed limit.

"At last I know what to look forward to whenever we decide to have kids," Bailey muttered as they pulled into their parking lot.

"I heard that," Ben said stepping out of the car.

"Yeah, I know." She told him with some snark her hip swaying as she walked to the back seat.

Ben chuckled, her sass was part of what made him love her.

* * *

"April, hey I'm here," Jackson said as he held her hand. Her ring shining brightly in his eyes. "I'll wait for you whenever you're ready. No rush. Just maybe not too long though I've kind of been waiting for a while. Me and Aryn both." He smiled.

It was 8 pm and he needed to check in on Aryn. Ben and Bailey had to be home by now so this was a perfect time to call.

"Hey Ben, just checking in," Jackson said as Ben answered.

"Hey Jackson, everything's fine here. She barely makes a peep and Bailey's a pro with her." Ben told him.

"Thanks." He said relieved. This was one less thing he had to deal with.

"How's April? What did the doctors say?" Ben questioned with Bailey hovering next to him.

"They told me there's a chance she'll wake up tonight. I've been sitting next to her since I got here. She's tossed and turned a few times, but nothing else yet."

"Wow, that's great news!" Ben exclaimed. He wasn't expecting that when he'd answered the phone. He was excited for him though, it'd been way too long.

"We're happy for you Jackson, and don't worry about Aryn she's doing fine. We'll take her to the daycare tomorrow morning, just call and let us know if you want us to take her tomorrow night too. If you do we'll make sure to bring her over to see you tomorrow night."

"Thank you, that would be really great, and I'll let you guys know when April wakes up," Jackson told them. It felt really good to have friends he could depend on.

"Okay, see you tomorrow Avery," Bailey said closing the phone.

Jackson hung up with a smile on his face. He leaned back in the chair hands still clasped in April's hand. He'd probably have to call his mother soon and let her know what was happening, but he'd rather wait till there was actually something to tell her.

As much as he wanted to stay awake he ended up dozing off. All the excitement was obviously taxing. Jackson jerked awake at the sensation in his hands. His eyes flew open and he stared sharply down at his hands, or more precisely the hand in his hands. He could have sworn it moved but as he continued to watch it remained still. Jackson shook his head, it must have been a dream.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he felt it again. This time he saw her hand move. "Come on baby, wake up for me." He begged.

April's eyes remained shut though. Her hand continued to gently squeeze his hand softly and he rubbed her hand to let her know he was here. "Come on babe, can you open your eyes for me?"

She moaned a little and turned in the bed. He watched her eyes twitched and his heart picked up its pace. He placed one of his hands on her cheek and gently caressed her face murmuring words of encouragement to get her to wake up.

"Hey, Aryn and I have been waiting over a month for you to wake up. Don't you think it's about time to stop torturing us?" He said with a chuckle. "I don't know how many more diapers I can change." He told her only half joking.

Jackson watched as a smile spread out on April's face. Her eyes slowly opening and closing as if she were fighting against an invisible force.

"That's it, you got this." Jackson encouraged. He grinned as he watched April's eyes slowly blink awake. Her smile disappeared and she looked dazed and confused and it took a moment before she could really focus on anything specific.

* * *

April's eyes finally zeroed in on the person sitting beside her. She stared at him in confusion trying to figure out who he was. He was very handsome but she still had no idea who he was. April looked around checking her surroundings. She heard the beep of the monitor and that clued her in on where exactly she was. That must mean the guy next to her was most likely her doctor.

"Hey," he said with a huge smile.

April looked at him in confusion. The way this man was staring at her told her maybe he was more than her doctor. He was only dressed in scrubs, no coat though that wasn't an indication that he wasn't her doctor.

"April, babe are you okay? How do you feel? You in any pain?" He asked as he checked her out. Now, this proved to her that he wasn't her doctor. Babe? She watched as he got all worked up over her. Yeah, definitely not her doctor. She just wished she could remember what was missing from her memory because something was clearly missing.

"I..." she started but she didn't know what to say. "Who-"

"Mrs. Avery" April turned her head to the door as someone walked in. Clearly, they were talking about her but Mrs. Avery?" What was that all about? For one thing, her last name was Kepner and what was with the Mrs. She wasn't married.

April quickly looked down at her hand and didn't see a ring. She breathed out a sigh of relief. It would definitely be bad if she didn't remember getting married. She lifted her hand to run across her face and froze. There, shining brightly was a ring. She was looking at the wrong hand before. "Idiot" she mumbled. Oh crap, that meant she really was married.

April turned back to the man sitting next to her. His eyes shining with unshed tears. The bright smile on his face and his loving look told her everything she needed to know. This man was more than likely her husband. She looked at his hand and saw that his ring matched hers.

"April?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry." She said with a weary voice.

"Sorry about what?" He asked as he reached for her hand.

April instinctively moved her hand away. She saw the hurt look in the guy's eyes. "I don't know who you are." She told him and if his face wasn't already crushed by her actions, it was completely shattered by her words.

"You don't know who I am? What do you mean?" He looked at her then turned to face the doctor. Confusion and fear etched into his face. "What's wrong with my wife? You said everything came up fine on the labs."

"They did, there was no swelling, no bleeders, everything was fine." The doctor walked over to April and checked her over. Deciding to check her memory "Can you tell me what your name is?"

"April Kepner" she answered looking over at the doctor.

"When is your birthday?" The doctor continued his questions.

"April 23." She answered.

"And how old are you?"

"Um, I guess that depends on what year this is." She said trying to think it through.

"What year do you think it is?" The doctor asked, the other guy keeping quiet.

"I don't know. I feel like I'm older than I think I am. I know I finished medical school but that's all I remember. I guess that would make me about 25, but by the looks on your faces, I'm assuming I'm wrong."

"You're 29" the guy answered.

"I'm sorry, what's your name?" April asked the man who was supposedly her husband. For the moment disregarding the fact that apparently, she was four years older than what she thought.

"Jackson." He said dejectedly.

April winced at the pain she could see in his eyes. She was hurting him, unintentionally, but she was and for some reason that hurt her too. As far as husbands went she could do a whole lot worse. She couldn't understand how she could get a man like him. He was gorgeous and she was, average at best. Where would you even find a man like that? With his beautiful blue-green eyes and his chiseled face and the way his scrubs clung to his body, she could tell he was not lacking in that department.

"What exactly happened to me? How did I end up in the hospital?" She asked shaking away her other thoughts.

"You were in a car accident" Jackson answered.

"Oh, okay. So 29 huh?" She was sure that at some point this would hit home, but right now she couldn't think of that. She needed to fix things, not only for herself but also for the guy who was staring at her with so much love despite the fact that she couldn't remember loving him. She looked at Jackson and watched as he nodded his head. "Alright well, don't you have some tests to run?" She said to the doctor. "And you" she looked back over at Jackson "you just stay here. When I get back I want to know everything about the last 4 years of my life that you can tell me." She hoped that something would jog her memory because even though she didn't remember it, she wanted to remember the life that she had. Especially with this man.

* * *

Jackson nodded his head again and watched as she was wheeled out. She was a force to be reckoned with even on her worse days. This crazy-bossy-take charge April was one of the reasons he fell in love with her. Even without her memories of him, she was still willing to try to get to know him and the life they had. She didn't just disregard him as others would. She wasn't letting her sudden amnesia deter her from her life with him and unbeknownst to her, her their daughter.

Jackson sat back in his chair and pulled out his phone, calling the one person who he thought could help in this situation.

"Derek Shepard" the man answered.

"Hey, Shepard. I need your help." Jackson said as he waited for his amnesiac wife to come back.


	11. Chapter 11

Aaaand I'm back. Here's the next chapter of my story. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Derek answered his phone without a glance at the screen. He was used to getting calls left and right. He wasn't expecting the person on the other line though.

"Shepard, it's Jackson. I need your help." He heard the voice say in a desperate tone.

"Avery? What's going on?" He asked worriedly. This was the first time that he had ever gotten a call from the younger doctor. He didn't even know he had his number. Derek knew that Jackson had gone to the hospital after getting a call about April, but no one knew what had happened. "Is April okay?"

"Yes, no, I mean I don't know," Jackson answered fumbling his words.

"Hey, just take a deep breath and tell me what's going on," Shepard instructed him. He could hear Jackson following his instructions.

"April woke up. That's why the doctor called me. They said she was more than likely going to regain consciousness within the night, and she did." Jackson sighed.

"Well, that sounds like great news Jackson!" Derek said happy for his fellow colleague. "I don't get why you would need my help though."

Jackson let out another sigh. "Because while she did wake up, she has no memory of the last 4 years of her life. She doesn't remember me or her daughter. She doesn't remember anything about our life together." Jackson explained trying to detach himself from the situation.

Derek was quiet for a good minute. "What did the neurologist say?" He asked getting right to business.

"They said that there should be no reason for her to have no memory. Her brain scans came up clear the last time they checked. They took her up a few minutes ago to get another scan. I know I didn't want to come to you guys with this, but I could really use your help in figuring out what's wrong with my wife." Jackson pleaded.

"Of course I'll help you. You don't even need to ask. Do you want me to come over to the hospital or are you having her transferred here?" Derek asked.

"I didn't really think too far past this phone call." Jackson chuckled humorlessly.

"That's completely understandable. How about I head over there right now and talk to the doctors than we'll have her transferred to our hospital." Derek knew it was hard going through what Jackson was going through, not to mention worrying about their child. He wanted to make up for everything he and the rest of the doctors at Grey Sloan did, even if that meant he needed to help Jackson do things he normally could do on his own.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Jackson said relieved. "My mind is a freaking mess right now." He admitted

"Alright, I'll be there soon." Derek hung up the phone.

* * *

Jackson paced the room as he waited for April to get back. He ran his hands over his head like he usually did when he was stressed out.

He switched back and forth from pacing the small space of the room to sitting back in his chair.

He sat there in the chair with his leg bouncing up and down nervously. It wasn't until nearly an hour later that Derek entered the room.

"Hey Jackson," Derek said as he entered the room.

Jackson raised his head from its downed position at the sound of his name. He got up from his seat and held his hand out. "Thanks for coming."

Derek shook his hand. "You needed my help, it was no problem."

Jackson nodded his head.

"Are they still out taking tests?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, but they better get here soon or I'm heading up there myself to see what's going on," Jackson said frustrated.

"There's no need for that." The Dr. said as she walked into the room, the nurses right behind her with his wife.

"Dr. Freeman. What did the scans say?" Jackson asked the doctor as he watched from a distance as his wife was wheeled into the room. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

"The scans came back clean again. It seems whatever is blocking April's memories has nothing to do with her head injury." Dr. Freeman informed the distraught husband.

"We'd like to have April transferred to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. It's closer to where she lives and I happen to be a renowned neurosurgeon. I can continue to treat her there." Derek said.

"Oh my God, you're Derek Shepard!" April exclaimed. This was so surprising. What was he doing here?

Derek chuckled. "Yes, I am Derek Shepard and you're April Kepner."

"Ugh," she groaned. "I'm assuming I'm supposed to know you too? I mean other than what I've read about you. Not that I was reading about you. I mean I did, but not in the way it sounds. And I'm shutting up now" April's face turned bright red.

Jackson chuckled. He knew how much April hated the fact that with her fair complexion she could never hide the fact that she was blushing.

"You could have warned me," April grumbled giving Jackson a small glare.

Jackson threw his hands up in the air. "Hey, I never could stop your tangents."

Derek chuckled. April may not have known it, but her reaction was still the same. She interacted with Jackson just like she did before she lost her memories.

"We should probably get moving," Derek added.

Dr. Freeman informed Jackson that there would be some forms he'd need to fill out for April's transfer and the two headed out the door. It was so hard for Jackson not to interact with April romantically. He would have loved to have kissed her or touched her really, but he knew that she wasn't ready for that.

April was left in the room with Derek and although she made a big fool of herself a minute ago, she was ready to take full advantage of this opportunity.

"So, what can you tell me about Jackson?" April asked him.

Derek looked like she'd taken him by surprise. If there was a picture of what a deer caught in headlights looked like, that was definitely it.

"What?" Derek asked more surprised than confused.

"I want to know about Jackson. I mean he's my husband and I know absolutely nothing about him other than the fact that he might be a doctor and his last name is Avery." April admitted.

"I don't actually know much. We're not that close." He said ashamed. Mark would be disappointed in him. He knew how much Sloan cared about Jackson, they had really gotten close once Jackson discovered his talents in Plastics. The two often going by the term the Plastics Posse. Mark would hate how they'd all been treating him.

"Oh, that sucks," April said dejectedly. "You guys seem close. I mean you didn't come all the way over here to help someone you don't know."

"I didn't say I didn't know him, I just don't know anything personal about him or you for that matter," Derek told her.

"Okay, what do you know about him? How long have you known each other?"

"3 almost 4 years now. You both came to Seattle Grace as surgical residents, but you were both formerly from Mercy West Medical Center. Your hospital merged with Seattle Grace Hospital and you've been there ever since." Derek told her.

She sighed "Not ringing any bells." April told him. She had hoped that hearing a little about her life would jog at least a little of her memories. "Tell me more," she urged him.

"I think you would be better off hearing this from your husband. There are things, personal things that I'm sure Jackson would rather be the one to tell you." He didn't want to be the one to tell her about her failing the boards, or that she no longer worked at the hospital, or the fact that she had a one-month-old daughter with a husband she no longer remembered.

April wanted to argue with the doctor but Jackson chose that very moment to enter the room. "Okay, you're all set," Jackson told her keeping his distance. She could see how much he longed to be next to her, but she appreciated him giving her some space.

"What about her other injuries? Is she okay to move?" Jackson asked with worry.

Dr. Freeman nodded her head "It's been a month since the accident. Her wrist has mostly healed as well as her leg. She'll probably feel a bit sore but other than that she's good to go."

"Thank you," Jackson said. He turned to April. "How do you want to play this?" He asked her.

"I don't need to go by ambulance do I?" April looked towards the doctor.

"No, you don't." Doctor Freeman answered. "But you do need the wheelchair, you've been comatose for a month and your body is going to need some time before it can go back to how it was before. Walking for long periods is going to take some time."

"Alright then," She said to the doctor as they slowly helped her into her wheelchair. "I think this could give us some time to talk," April said as she turned to face Jackson. She assumed she'd be riding with him.

Jackson didn't even try to hide his happiness. The fact that April was so eager to fix their relationship made her memory loss something he thought that he could handle. Although he wasn't sure what he was going to do about the fact that he was keeping one major secret from her.

He happily agreed with April and they got to work on getting her to his car.

* * *

"So, what do you want to ask me?" Jackson asked as he drove, following behind Derek.

"Let's see, am I a neurosurgeon?" She asked happily. She'd always seen herself as a neurosurgeon, dreamed of it in fact.

Jackson glanced at her hearing the excitement in her voice. "No, actually you decided on trauma."

"I did?" She asked confused. "Are you sure?"

Jackson laughed. "I've known you for over four years. I think I know what career you chose."

April thought that thought over. She wanted to argue that he may have known her for four years but she knew what she wanted and she never pictured herself as a trauma surgeon. But then she thought back to the fact that she couldn't remember the last few years of her life. A lot of time had passed, maybe she changed. Jackson seemed so confident in his answer that she knew he was right.

"How long have we been married?" She asked softly.

Jackson took a second to answer. "Almost a year"

"Wow" What else could she say. She couldn't even imagine what he must be going through. She was in a coma for a month and he had to wait for her to wake up only to find out that she didn't even remember their life together. He was practically a stranger to her while she seemed to be the love of his life.

"Yeah," Jackson said with a strained smile. It hurt talking about their life when she couldn't remember it.

April looked at him sadly. She was once again hurting him. How many people would she end up hurting with her memory loss? A thought suddenly hit her.

"My family! I should call and tell them that I'm going to another hospital." April searched around for her phone.

"April," Jackson wanted to explain to get why that wasn't such a good idea.

"No, they'll probably be worried sick if they see me missing. Where the heck is my phone?" She said as she searched her bag. She wasn't even sure what phone she was looking for, she couldn't possibly have the same phone from four years ago.

"April!" Jacksons shout stopped her from talking.

"What!" She screamed back at him in frustration. Why wasn't he helping her?

Jackson shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you." April apologized. "What's the problem now?"

Jackson took a deep breath. What he was going to tell her was going to hurt her. "Your parents," He paused.

"What about my parents?" She asked confused.

"Your parents, your family they..." He glanced at her. "They don't know about your accident."

"Wait a minute. You didn't tell my family about me being in a coma?" April looked at him incredulously. He had no right to keep her family away from her.

"I tried to tell them, but they wouldn't accept my calls," Jackson explained.

"Why wouldn't they want to talk to you?" April asked confused. She couldn't understand why her parents wouldn't accept a call from her husband, their son-in-law. He was a doctor and seemed to be a decent guy. She may not remember him, but she didn't see a reason for them to not like him.

"I'm sorry April. I left messages but they never called back. You guys weren't on good terms before your accident." He admitted.

"Not on good terms? What could have happened that would put me at odds with my entire family?" April stared at him in confusion.

"There's a lot that you don't remember about us," Jackson told her.

"Well, it would be great if you could tell me," April said exasperatedly.

"I know, I know, it's just a lot for you to take in right now. I think if I tell you everything now it'll just overwhelm you." Jackson tried to explain to her.

"Well isn't that a decision I should make. This involves me." April argued. She didn't appreciate people making decisions for her on her behalf, husband or not.

"It's actually a decision that involves the both of us." He gritted out. This was hard for him and he was trying to be calm about everything that was happening but he could only take so much. "Were married April, and I know you don't remember that, or me, but I do. I remember everything and I'm trying my best here not to put too much on you and to keep my distance but it's hard. It's really really hard."

"I understand that. I do, but I can't have you lying to me about my life. I don't want you to keep things from me for my own benefit. I can handle whatever comes my way." April didn't want or need to be coddled.

Jackson took a deep breath. "How about I tell you the reason for your family's distance when we get to the hospital. That way if anything I say triggers you at least we'll be in an environment that can help you." Jackson reasoned.

April thought it over. She wanted to know the reason for her family's lack of relationship with her and Jackson, but she could wait for the details to that for a little while longer. If it really was as bad as he was making it seem, then she'd appreciate being able to have some space to herself. It would suck to be stuck in a car with no way out.

"Okay, we'll do this your way. I'll wait till we get to the hospital. But I don't want any more secrets after that, I want to know everything." April told him.

Jackson let out a small breath. If this was all he was going to get then he was going to take it. Jackson nodded his head letting her know he understood. Although he wasn't sure how she was going to take the fact that she had a child that she didn't remember.

* * *

Jackson walked into the hospital right behind Derek. He looked over at April who was standing beside him nervously. She declined the offer of a wheelchair.

"I won't be up on my feet for long anyhow," she told him.

Jackson didn't understand what she was so nervous about though.

"You okay?" Jackson asked April.

She seemed to shake herself from her daze. "Yeah, it's just I don't remember any of this. It's all new to me." She said.

Jackson couldn't really relate to what she was feeling. So he just nodded his head.

"I'm gonna go find an empty room for you, get you admitted," Derek told Jackson and April.

"I don't think I need one. At least not for long." April looked at Derek and Jackson. They should really leave the rooms to people who were actually in need of them. "You only need to take a few more tests right?"

"Yeah, but you know it'll take some time, and you did just wake up from your coma. You should at least stay hospitalized for a few days. Also, it's better that you have somewhere to lay low in. You probably don't want to be bombarded with a bunch of people you don't remember." Derek explained.

Jackson agreed one hundred percent, but he didn't want to be the one to point it out. It was weird, but he felt like he was overstepping. Technically he was her husband and he had every right to question things and arrange things on her behalf, but April wouldn't think that.

She probably felt as though he was handling her and she didn't even know him. He felt it'd be better if he let her make her own decisions. Well, at least the majority of her decisions.

"You're right, plus it'll give us time to talk." April stared at Jackson pointedly.

"Yeah, okay." Jackson agreed hesitantly, while April smiled.

Derek walked away to make the arrangements leaving April and Jackson to themselves.

April watched as Jackson looked around nervously as if he were searching for something or someone.

"Are you okay?" April asked him.

"Yeah, it's just..." He didn't want her to take what he was going to say the wrong way. "I don't want anyone to see you yet."

"What? Why?" April looked at him incredulously. 'Who did he think he was? Other than the obvious of course.'

"I'm sorry" Jackson sighed. "I only mean that no one knows that you're awake or that you don't have your memories. I've been trying to keep my distance because I know you're not that comfortable around me yet."

April winced at that statement watching as the hurt flashed in his eyes because it was the truth. He was still a stranger to her.

"But, at the same time, I can't stand back and let you face things that you might not be ready for yet. We said we would take this one step at a time and that's all I'm trying to do." Jackson said with so much emotion in his voice. He wanted her to understand that he cared for her and he loved her and he didn't want to see her in pain.

April gazed at him as if she were searching for something, and she must have found whatever she was looking for because she held her hand out for him to take. "Okay" She simply said. "Where do you want me to go?"

Jackson looked at her in surprise, caught off guard by her quick acceptance. He took her hand and pulled her towards the boardroom sending a message to Derek where they'll be when he got the room ready.

They both took a seat at the table. April was secretly happy that she could sit down. was right she couldn't yet stand for long periods of time.

"So what else would you like to know?" Jackson asked her. He figured as long as he didn't bring up Aryn then there would be no need to broach that topic just yet. April sure wouldn't be bringing it up. Her month-long stay in the hospital in a coma made it look as though she hadn't even been pregnant. So he could see how she wouldn't immediately come to that conclusion.

"You work at this hospital right?" April asked. "That's what Dr. Shepard said at least. That we've been here since the merge from Mercy West." She finished.

"Yes, I do." He said carefully avoiding the fact that he said he worked here and not her too although he could see where this was going. "Is there another question in there?"

April laughed. "Yeah, there is, sorry. What's my job exactly?" April wondered. If she had in fact been going for trauma now than that only meant she worked in the trauma department, but she wanted to confirm her suspicions.

Jackson scratched his head giving April a nervous look. "Listen, April, you don't exactly work here."

April's eyes widened. She hadn't even considered the fact that she probably worked at a different hospital. She just assumed that when Shepard said they'd both been working at this hospital since residency that they were both still there. "Okay, so what hospital do I work at?"

"You don't work at any hospital," Jackson explained without actually saying what he meant. He hated the crushed look on her face before and it'd taken a lot to get her to realize that she could take the boards again and that she would pass this time. He didn't want her to go through that again.

"I don't understand." April looked at him in confusion. How could she not work at any hospital? What did that even mean?

"You don't work at any hospital because you didn't pass your boards," Jackson said softly.

"I didn't... What?" She looked at him lost. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, we all studied together and you knew everything. In fact, if anyone was going to fail their boards I honestly thought it would be me." Jackson admitted.

"I've been working all my life for this." April looked away from Jackson tears gathering in her eyes.

Jackson's heart broke at that. He carefully grabbed her hands. "April look at me." He waited for her to turn her attention to him.

"You were stressed, l... we all were." Jackson smiled sadly thinking about all the problems they all faced. Him finding out that his mother was having sex with Webber, Karev and his deteriorating patient, Meredith and her cold, Cristina and her overconfidence, and finally April and her nervousness. The fact that April was the one that failed was a shock to everyone.

"I know this is a big disappointment. You can't remember it right now, but we had this talk before and I will tell you exactly what I told you before. You are smart and talented. So you'll take the test again and this time you'll pass it with flying colors. You're going to have hospitals calling from all over begging to have you. I promise you, you're gonna make one hell of a Trauma Doctor, just wait and see." Jackson told her.

"I see why I fell for you" April smiled a watery smile, giving his hands a soft squeeze.

Jackson laughed. He didn't let her hands go though and she hadn't pulled away yet.

"SoI have no job and you're just off your residency, how are we paying the bills. We do live together right?" April asked worriedly. She didn't like that he was not only in a demanding career, but he had to now take care of both of them.

"Were good, we have enough saved for now," Jackson said easily, which wasn't a complete lie. They did have money saved, but most of it was from his trust.

"Okay." She accepted just as easily. "I want to know what happened between me and my family," April said. She figured she let enough time pass.

Jackson could hear the firmness in her voice, but also the fear.

"The night of our boards, we kind of got carried away and did some things that went against your religion," Jackson said without actually saying much, but the answer was in there.

April looked confused for a second until realization hit her.

"Oh. Oh!" She looked at him in shock and disbelief.

Her eyes widened twice their size in shock. She, April Kepner had intercourse before marriage? No wonder she failed her boards. God was punishing her.

"And before you say it, God was not punishing you. We did something that felt right at the time and I don't want to believe that there is a God somewhere out there that would punish someone for being happy." Jackson interrupted her thoughts.

She wanted to question the fact that it sounded as if Jackson didn't even believe in God, but that was a whole other topic that she didn't feel like broaching. She just nodded her head.

"I can see how this could be a problem for my parents, but this is definitely not something I would tell my sisters let alone my parents, so unless there was a need to, like if I was suddenly expecting a baby or something I don't see how this would cause a rift between..." April trailed off at the look on Jackson's face.

"You're kidding," she said flatly. When he made no comment she stood up. "You have to be joking!" April began pacing the room, nervous energy bubbling up within her and filling the room.

"April-" Jackson was cut off before he could finish saying her name.

"I have a baby, how could I not know I have a baby!" She looked distressed. "There's no way. I would know! A woman knows!" She was practically screaming.

"They gave you an emergency c- section, you should still have the scar if you want to confirm it," Jackson said standing up slowly. He didn't want to tell her, hell he didn't, in fact, tell her. She found out all on her own, he was just confirming it.

Jackson watched as April suddenly stopped her pacing and stood stock still. She slowly lifted up her scrub top and pulled the bottom lower revealing the long scar.

Everything was quiet until a choked sob replaced the silence. Jackson looked on with sadness in his eyes. Another sob escaped April's lips and then another until she was full on sobbing. Her shaking hands traced over the scar left over from the surgery.

Jackson made his way over to his wife and carefully wrapped his arms around her. She continued to cry as she leaned into him letting him hold her. Console her.

It wasn't until minutes later that April was able to pull herself together enough to ask him about the baby.

"Is the baby okay? I mean did it make it through the accident?" She felt weird calling the baby an it, but she didn't exactly know the sex.

"Yeah, she's great." He smiled.

April pulled away from him with a watery smile. "A girl?" She asked happily.

"Yeah. Aryanna Jordan Avery, Aryn for short. She was born two months early, a premi. She's healthy though, she's a ball of energy. She'll be so excited to see you, whenever you're ready." Jackson didn't want to put any added pressure on her. She would see her daughter when she felt up to it.

"Can I see her?"April asked tentatively. She was her daughter and she had every right to see her, but she still felt like an outsider, like she needed his permission.

"Of course, you don't need to ask, she's your daughter too." Jackson wanted her to understand that she didn't need his consent. "We made her together."

April watched the heat in Jackson's stare, as he gazed at her. She blushed, heat rising up to her cheeks and down her neck. He was still holding onto her as if he was afraid that if he let her go she wouldn't allow him to come back.

Derek knocked on the door and cracked it open. "Hey, the room's ready."

Jackson and April stepped away from each other.

They looked up at Derek and nodded their heads. They made their way to the room, surprisingly with no one noticing April was there.

"We'll get started on those tests right away. No one is using the room for any tests right now, so this is the perfect time." Derek motioned for April to follow him.

Jackson decided to stay behind again and make a few calls.

He was sure that Ben and Bailey were at the hospital by now which meant so was his daughter. He figured April would really like the surprise visit, not to mention he himself could use a visit from his daughter. He sent a message to Ben, letting him know what was going on.

Jackson's not sure how much time passes before Ben walks into the room with his little girl in his hands.

Jackson's face instantly brightens at the sight of her. He reaches out and takes her from Ben's hands.

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Bailey's in a surgery right now." Ben informed him.

Jackson nodded his head that was nestled against his baby's body. He pressed a kiss to Aryn's cheek and looked at Ben.

"Thanks for bringing her here." Jackson thanked him.

"It was no problem. So April is awake. Wow man. That's amazing." Ben said with a smile.

"Yeah, I just wish she could remember us." Jackson looked at Ben sadly.

"She'll remember. In the meantime I know she'll be happy to see this beautiful little girl, memory or not." Ben said.

"Yeah." Jackson smiled. Aryn lay nestled in her father's arms comfortably.

"I'll leave you two to have some time alone." Ben placed Aryn's bag on the floor and exited the room.

* * *

April came back in thirty minutes later and looked on in shock. She hadn't expected Jackson to bring her today. She'd only asked about her an hour ago.

April walked tentatively into the room, getting up from the wheelchair she was forced to use after her legs nearly gave out on her. She moved quietly as if she were afraid to make any sudden movements. As if she thought her mere presence would scare Aryn. She distantly heard Derek saying he would give them a little time together.

Jackson turned at the sound of her footsteps. His eyes were sparkling with pure joy and it just made him more beautiful. Normally she would think calling a man beautiful was an odd thing, but Jackson truly was beautiful and so was their daughter.

"She's gorgeous." She said with so much emotion in her voice. "I can't believe I missed a whole month worth of things." She said sadly.

"It's still pretty early on, you haven't missed much." Honestly, he understood how she felt. He would be heartbroken if he'd missed out on any of Aryn's firsts. But he wouldn't tell April that.

"I know, but it still feels like a lot." She was now only inches from both Jackson and Aryn. She was a little nervous.

Jackson stood up and lifted Aryn up. He held her out to April waiting for her to take her.

"Are you sure, I don't want to scare her." April looked on nervously. She'd missed out on the bonding time, there was no way Aryn would be comfortable in a stranger's hands. Even if that stranger was he mother.

"I'm sure," Jackson confirmed with no doubt in his voice. It was enough to give April the push she needed. "I brought her to see you almost every day, she knows you."

April held her arms out and Jackson placed Aryn in her arms. She wasn't asleep just yet, her eyes still open enough to see around her. She looked around for a bit, staring at her father for a while longer before setting her eyes on April. Aryn blinked a few times and then smiled. April looked at Jackson with such happiness he couldn't stop the smile on his face if he wanted to, and he didn't want to. His family was finally together.

April smiled up at him and just about melted at the sight. It suddenly didn't matter that she couldn't remember being pregnant, or her life with Jackson. If she never remembered him she would be okay. Because the look on his face as he watched his family finally together was something she would never forget.


	12. Chapter 12

**~Hey everyone I know it's been a while, but I'm still writing my stories. This is the next chapter for secrets kept. I just want to thank those who are still reading my story and reviewing. Please continue to send me any thoughts or ideas you have for this story, I love hearing what you think. Enjoy!**

* * *

"She has my nose! Look, Jackson, she has my nose!" April gushed over their baby. She'd been spending the past few hours searching for similarities between the two of them. She now had the little girl upright next to her face while they both faced Jackson waiting for his answer.

Jackson chuckled. "Yes, I full heartedly agree." He was happy that Aryn took to April as fast as she did. This was something that she needed after what she was going through.

April smiled brightly at him as she held Aryn. Slowly though it started to fade. "So my parents found out about her and that's it? They just cut us out of their lives?" She asked with a sniffle. "I can't imagine anyone not loving this little girl."

"Yeah, I know. It took me a while to tell my folks about us too." Jackson told her.

"But they accepted us right?" Jackson could see just as much as he could hear how deeply she wanted him to say yes.

"Yeah, they did. I wasn't really close to them for a long time. But after your accident, I needed some help with Aryn. I called my mom and she came that same day. My family has been wanting to make amends with me for a while now, and this helped that along."

It was kind of bittersweet. April was happy that her husband's family was a part of her daughter's life but it really brought home the fact that her family wasn't. She was hugely disappointed in the fact that this is what it took for her family to turn their backs on her.

"I'm sorry," Jackson said as he sat down next to her on the bed. He gently placed his hand on her back as if he was afraid she'd reject his touch if he applied any force to it. "I shouldn't have brought up my family. I know that's a sore spot for you." He said sincerely. April could hear the sadness in his voice but there was also a bit of anger in the there as well.

"No, it's fine." She grabbed a hold of his hand. "Yes, I'll admit that it hurts that my family clearly wants nothing to do with us, but I'm glad that at least one side of Aryn's family has a part in her life. I've always been a big fan of a big family. I don't want Aryn to miss out on that." She squeezed his hand. "I'm glad that you put aside your feelings to work things out with your family."

"That's something you would have said before your accident. You wanted Aryn to have a good support system. It nearly broke you when your parents cut ties with you. But you were more upset that they couldn't see past what you did to have a relationship with Aryn. You're the reason why I finally called my mom." Jackson admitted.

April looked over at him in shock. "I am?" She asked.

"Yeah. All I could think about was you and how now I was supposed to raise a baby on my own. I tried, man I tried. But, I ended up caving and calling my mother. She helped a lot and she got me thinking about the rest of my family. At first, I was thinking it wasn't such a good idea, but then I thought about you and how you wanted Aryn to be surrounded by family so I decided to call them." He smirked at her. "You could always get me to do what you wanted."

April smiled happily. "Well, I'm happy that I could be of assistance, even in my comatose state." she joked.

Jackson smiled back at her. His attention was averted to the vibrating of his phone. "Speak of the devil," Jackson muttered.

April looked at him in confusion.

He held up his finger to April as he answered his phone.

"Mom," Jackson answered.

"Jackson baby you haven't called, you haven't texted, I wanted to see how my baby and grandbaby were doing."

"We're doing just fine and you told me to call when I had news on April," Jackson told her.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't call to say hello to your mother." She chastised.

Jackson grimaced. "You're right mom, I'm sorry," Jackson told her knowing he was in the wrong this time. That's the least he could have done being that she basically stopped her life to help him through his.

"That's alright baby." She said, she clearly only wanted an apology.

"But since you did call I was planning on giving you a call. April is awake." Jackson said after looking towards April and making sure it was okay to let his mother know what was going on.

"Well, why didn't you say that in the beginning!" She exclaimed.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "We've been on the phone for literally a minute. I've barely gotten a sentence in." Jackson argued.

"Yes, I know I know. Now how is she doing?" Catherine wondered.

"She's okay physically. A little weak from all the time she's spent in the coma."Jackson explained.

"That's amazing baby! I'm so happy for you." She said excitedly. "This is perfect timing, I just got off the phone with your sisters. They should be getting there by tomorrow morning."

"Wait wait what are you talking about?" Jackson stared at the phone in confusion.

"Your sisters are coming down," Catherine stated as if it were a known fact.

"They didn't tell me they were coming," Jackson said annoyed.

"Oh, baby they wanted it to be a surprise. They figured with April still in the coma that you could use some help." Catherine explained to him. "Now that she's awake though they can get to know their sister in law," Catherine said excitedly. Her tone changing completely.

"Mom. If you guys would have checked in with me you would know that while yes April is awake and relatively healthy considering what she's been through she's not one hundred percent." Jackson sounded a little pissed.

"What does that mean Jackson?" Catherine questioned concerned.

"April has no memory of the last few years of her life. Including her marriage to me or her career." Jackson didn't understand how his family seemed to always do things according to what they wanted without a thought to anyone else.

"Oh my god, Jackson! I had no idea." She said shocked.

"I know, but you would have known had you given me a heads-up before you guys decided on anything." Jackson chastised. He was frustrated with the fact that his family thought it was okay to spring things on him. Honestly, he probably wouldn't have been this upset if April hadn't lost her memories.

"Jackson" April looked at his frustrated face hoping to calm him down. "It's okay, you don't have to worry about me. I think I can handle your family. Especially if it means my daughter having them in her life."

Jackson had the phone muted not wanting his mother to hear their conversation. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into." Jackson shook his head.

"You don't think I can handle myself?" She asked her eyebrow raised.

"No that's not it-"Jackson hurried to correct.

"Jackson, what's going on?" Catherine spoke from the phone.

Jackson unmuted the phone when April nodded her head to him letting him know that she was okay with this.

He sighed "mom everything's fine. Tell the family they are more than welcome to come."

"Are you sure Jackson? What about April baby?" Catherine asked worriedly.

"She," Jackson looked over at her again " she's okay with it. But I need you guys to not overdo it." Jackson reminded her.

"Oh, Jackson when have you ever known me to overdo anything." She said exasperatedly.

"Mom really?" He said matter of factly. Their family lived for that sort of thing.

"Okay, so maybe we can come off a little strong." She admitted reluctantly.

Jackson wouldn't argue the fact that a little was an understatement. "Okay, so when do they plan on getting here exactly." He questioned, mentally preparing himself for their visit.

"In a couple of days," Catherine told him. "I should be there by tomorrow morning though."

Jackson sighed. "Alright, I'll see you then. Bye, mom."

"Bye sweetheart. Give April my best wishes will you and kiss that grandbaby of mine too." She told him sweetly.

Jackson smirked and closed the phone. He ran his hands over his face as he set the phone down.

"Are you okay?" April looked at him worried.

"Yeah I'm good, it's you I'm worried about," Jackson told her.

"I think I can handle a few in-laws Jackson," April said irritably.

"It's not that I don't think that you can handle them, it's just I haven't told you a major part about my family," Jackson admitted.

"Okay, what is it?"April wondered, not sure what to expect.

"You know my surname is Avery right?" He asked her.

April nodded her head in the affirmative.

"My mother's name is Catherine Avery and my grandfather is-"

"Harper Avery." April gasped out. Of course, she knew about the Avery name, but she never put the connection together that Jackson was an Avery. She was married to an Avery. "Oh my gosh!"

"I know, I'm sorry that I never mentioned it but I just wanted to take it one step at a time with the surprises." Jackson looked at her in concern when she stayed quiet. "I knew I should have told my mom it was too soon." Jackson shook his head.

"No, no it's good that their coming. I think I'd rather get it all over with at once." April looked at him determined.

Jackson measured her, gauging if she looked strong enough for his family's visit. "Okay." He agreed. Realistically he couldn't really force her to do anything.

* * *

"So what did the tests say?" Jackson asked from his position in the chair next to the bed. He looked over at April who refused to put Aryn down. She seemed to want to make up for her month-long absence in a single day.

Derek was standing in front of the bed with his clipboard in hand.

"There's nothing on the scans," Derek said as he looked over the paperwork.

"Great, so the doctors at Mass Gen were right," April said frustrated. "How long do you think it'll take before I can get my memories back?" She questioned running her fingers through Aryn's soft curly hair.

"It's different for each patient. We can't know for sure how long this will take. It could be weeks or much longer, but you could also wake up any day and get them back." Derek answered her question as best as he could. Brain injuries were always difficult.

"Okay, do you think that I could go home tonight?" April wondered. She felt like she hadn't been home in forever. She couldn't stand being kept in a hospital especially if there wasn't any real reason to keep her.

Jackson looked over at Derek waiting for the answer to that question as well. April could finish the rest of her recuperation just fine at home. A thought occurred to him, he suddenly realized that April probably wouldn't be comfortable alone in a house with him. It was one thing to tell her about the life that she couldn't remember, but for her to come home with him and their daughter? That would be a big change for her. A change that he wasn't sure she was ready for.

"I'd still like to keep you here for the night, but I don't see why you can't go home tomorrow morning," Derek told her with a smile.

April smiled back. She could handle staying here for one more night if that meant she would be able to leave the following day. She'd take what she could get. Plus it was better that she had some time to get comfortable with Jackson staying with her since they would be going back to their home together.

"Does anyone else know about us being here?" Jackson asked Derek as he got ready to leave the room.

"I'm pretty sure the whole hospital knows about you being here. This hospital is worse than a high school at keeping secrets. But I've made sure that no one comes in here. Although Karev was itching to get in here." Derek chuckled.

Jackson smirked. Karev probably wanted to see if April was the same as when he first met her now that she had no memory. He told Ben to let Karev know what was going on and he was pretty sure the rest of the gang knew thanks to Derek.

"Thanks for keeping them away. I'm really not feeling like fielding questions." Jackson admitted gratefully.

"Yeah, thanks Dr. Shepard." April gave him a soft smile her hands still caressing her daughter's hair. It was as soft as silk.

"It was no problem, but please call me Derek we've known each other long enough to skip formalities." Derek laughed.

"That's going to take some getting used to." She smiled, still slightly dazed by the fact that shat she knew all these people.

* * *

Jackson was signing the last of the paperwork for April's discharge that morning while April herself was once again carrying Aryn. This time she was walking around the room with her in her arms while she fed her her bottle.

Jackson didn't question the amount of time April spent with their daughter, in fact, he loved that she was so insistent on being with her. He expected nothing less with how long April had been absent from her life. She had missed the whole bonding period mother's had with their children. She wasn't able to breastfeed like she wanted to either, so she was trying to take every opportunity that she could to build that bond.

Jackson, on the other hand, didn't think that there was anything to build. Aryn seemed to attach herself to April rather quickly. It was possibly from all his visits to her room when she was in the coma. Aryn was familiar with her.

April took a seat in the big pull out chair on the side of the room. She set the bottle down on the table and was patting Aryn's back to burp her. It didn't take long before a small sound left Aryn's mouth and she gurgled happily, her fingers playing in April's hair.

"You know all this walking around with her is really helping me get my strength back. It won't be long before I don't have to take all these breaks." April said to Jackson.

"I know, I can see how much better you're getting." He smiled but the smile didn't last as he remembered something.

"So how uncomfortable are you with coming home?" Jackson asked her, he knew that they would need to discuss this and it was better that they talked about it before they got home. He couldn't deny that he was afraid that she'd want him to stay away from her. She might accept his presence here but at home in a closed space and just the two of them, that might be a problem.

"I won't lie, I'm a little worried. The last thing I really remember was living in a dorm, but that was with another girl, not my hus- husband." She stuttered over the word. Clearly, she was still having trouble with that.

Jackson smirked at that. "Yeah, that's completely different from living with someone you're married to, not to mention the whole sharing a bed thing, not that I'd force you to share a bed with me or anything like that. I know we're not there yet." Jackson's face was flushed as he stopped himself from saying anything else.

"Wow, I see you picked up some of my traits," April smirked at his rambling.

Jackson scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess if you spend enough time with someone you start to rub off on each other." He laughed.

April laughed back. "And to answer your question no I don't feel too uncomfortable. This little girl really put things into perspective for me. It's hard not to see the both of us in her and it just highlights the fact that we made her together. I may not remember anything about our life together, but I know that I want to try to. I don't think I'll be disappointed." April admitted. She watched as Jackson stared at her rather intensely.

"Thank you. For blindly giving us a chance." Jackson rubbed his thumb over her hand. It was as close as he was comfortable attempting to get to her for now.

* * *

April had finally decided that Jackson could hold Aryn this time. She was exhausted from all the excitement and stress of the last couple of days and no matter what people said the hospital was not the best place to rest.

She was carrying her bag of belongings while Jackson carried Aryn in her car seat and the baby bag. She looked around as she tried to familiarize herself with her home. They lived in a beautiful penthouse apartment building. They luckily had an elevator that they used, thank God because her legs were about ready to give out.

She was walking beside him but at some point, she found herself in front of him. She stopped in front of the penthouse door and waited until Jackson caught up. "You moved in with me a couple of weeks after we found out about the baby. We planned on moving out and into a house in a few years."

April watched as Jackson placed the car seat on the ground and dug into his jacket pockets to find his key. He unlocked the apartment door and April rushed in to put the code on the alarm as it beeped. She didn't want the noise to wake up Aryn.

Jackson watched as April ran to the alarm system and entered in the code without hesitation.

"What?" April asked as Jackson stared at her. He was just standing outside with the car seat in one hand and the bag in the other. His face a mask of confusion a look that was slowly creeping on to hers. "Jackson get inside." She told him still confused at his sudden change in demeanor.

Jackson walked into the apartment and closed the door, carefully placing the car seat on the ground as well as the bag. "April you just put in the code for the alarm system." Jackson happily stated.

"I- I didn't even realize, I guess I just went on instinct. I still can't remember anything else though." She said surprised. It may not have been a huge thing, but the fact that she was able to remember that tiny bit of information brightened her day immensely. Clearly being home was going to be the thing that would help her get her memories back.

"It'll take some time that's it. You just need to be near things that you're familiar with. It took less than a minute of being home for you to remember something. I think you're doing great!" Jackson happily responded.

"Thanks." April smiled at him. He was so supportive it made her feel like everything would be okay. Every day she found more reasons why she fell for him.

"How about you go and take a rest while I put Aryn down," Jackson said. He picked Aryn up out of her chair and walked over to her room.

April watched as he left. She looked around and realized that she had no idea where their room was. She'd just have to try all the rooms until she found it.

Two guest rooms and a couple bathrooms later and she found a room that looked like it was theirs. The apartment was beautiful.

April walked inside and looked around. It was painted in bright colors which was probably her doing and there were pictures on the walls and counters of the both of them. She also saw a few that now included Aryn from when she was first born.

She lazily looked through everything in the room hoping to familiarize herself with everything around her. It wasn't long before she made her way to the big king-sized bed and fell asleep.

Jackson was just about to put Aryn down when she started to stir. "No no no, mommy's going to take a nap and you still look tired, so how about you go back to sleep sweetie." Jackson rocked her while he walked around the room. It took about ten minutes but she was finally back to sleep. He gently tucked her in her crib and closed the door.

Wanting to check on April Jackson looked into their room and found her passed out. He smiled and walked inside. Carefully removing her shoes and grabbing a blanket to place on her. She didn't even stir.

He closed the door and went into the kitchen. Instead of ordering in he figured he'd make a home-cooked meal. It was April's first day back in a month and he wanted her to eat something nice and homemade. She always did love his cooking.

 ** _-Flashback_**

 ** _April had been living with Jackson for a few weeks now and he had to admit he was happy. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, well after their baby that is._**

 ** _He was in the kitchen thinking of what he could make. It would be the first home-cooked meal he would be making for her. They always went out on their dates or ordered in so she never tasted his cooking before._**

 ** _He decided to go with something simple yet still filling. He let the shrimp defrost for a few before putting the pasta on the stove to boil. Thirty minutes later and he had the pasta, shrimp, and chicken together in his homemade Alfredo sauce._**

 ** _He checked the oven where his garlic bread was baking and turned the stove off on both. The scents penetrated the room where April was in and in seconds she was walking out of the room._**

 ** _"Oh my God, this smells amazing!" She looked around for the takeout. "What did you order?" She questioned when she spotted no containers._**

 ** _"I didn't order anything," Jackson said as he mixed the pasta._**

 ** _April stepped into the kitchen. "You made this?" She asked surprised even though the evidence was in front of her. "I didn't even know you could cook."_**

 ** _"Yes, I can cook. I learned when I was in college because no matter what anybody says you cannot live off of ramen noodles." He laughed._**

 ** _"I can't believe this. Why have we been ordering out all this time?" She shook her head as her stomach growled interrupting her rant. "You know what, it doesn't matter." She grabbed a plate and handed it to him waiting for him to fill it._**

 ** _Jackson chuckled as he piled on some pasta and a breadstick. He wasn't far behind her as they walked to the table and sat down. He watched as she took the first bite._**

 ** _"Oh my God." She moaned._**

 ** _"What?! Is it all right?" Jackson asked nervously._**

 ** _"Alright? Jackson this is amazing! We are no longer ordering out. You are the designated cooker from now on." April ordered._**

 ** _"Yes ma'am," Jackson smirked._**

 ** _-End flashback_**

Jackson smiled at the memory while he mixed the food.

April woke up to the delicious smell of something creeping into her room. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled as she got up from the bed. She made her way into the kitchen where the scent was coming from and saw her husband at the stove.

April shook her head. He was hot, a doctor, an Avery, and he could cook? How the hell did she get him? "That smells amazing." She smiled.

"Shrimp and Chicken Alfredo pasta with garlic bread," Jackson said.

"I didn't know you could cook." She said surprised. "I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu here." She added.

Jackson scooped some of the pasta onto a fork and put it to April's mouth.

April looked at him for a second before she ate it. She moaned and gasped at the memory that followed.

"This was the first meal you made me." She said happily.

"Yes, it was. And you made me the designated cooker though that didn't really work out that well with my work schedule." He chuckled happily at her getting another memory. "But I cooked for you whenever I was home," Jackson said as he gazed intently at her wiping some sauce off her lips.

"And I bet it tasted just as amazing." She smirked, giving him a seductive look that Jackson was finding hard to ignore. She slowly stepped forward.

Jackson's hands tightened on the handle of the stove. He had a feeling April knew precisely what she was doing to him. He couldn't exactly control every part of his body, and she was definitely causing a reaction within him.

April watched the strain splayed out across Jackson's face. He was trying hard to keep his distance, he had been since he found out about her memory loss. He wanted her, that much she could tell but he wouldn't do anything while she was without her memories.

She stepped into his personal space and he leaned forward before catching himself and moving back.

"It's okay." She whispered. She slowly pressed her lips against his and she felt him shudder.

Jackson hesitantly kissed her back. He wasn't sure if this was right or not. She seemed to want him, but she also didn't really know him. But Jackson couldn't stop himself from reacting.

He wrapped his shaking hands around April's waist and dove into the kiss. He'd been craving her for a whole month now and he didn't want to stop the kiss. It was hot and intense and it was everything he wanted.

They both pulled away. Although the lust filled looks they were sending each other spoke volumes to how heated that moment was.

"How about I take out some food for us," April suggested.

"Yea, yea that's a good idea," Jackson replied slightly out of breath. He watched her as she walked over to the cabinets once again remembering things that she didn't before.

Aryn's cries from the baby monitor on the counter had him walking into her room and picking her up. She was wide awake and she was hungry. He brought her out the room and made her a bottle while April brought their food to the table.

Jackson smiled at how domestic it all was. He was in love with his life right now and memories or not, it seemed like April was feeling the same way.


End file.
